Ghost Eater
by Wolf-ODonnell
Summary: Ancient Chinese Magic reaches Danny's home town, after he is hospitalised. Doctors scheme to use Danny's powers for their own purposes and Danny is pursued by a weird and terrifying mix of villains, all deadly enough to make the blood run cold.
1. Chapter 1: Away

**Ghost Eater  
_By Wolf O'Donnell_**

**Author's Note:** I don't normally do Danny Phantom fanfics and am more of a Star Fox fanfic guy, despite the fact that the majority of my fanfics are Digimon fanfics. However, I am branching out and proving that I can do any type of fanfic once I'm familiar with the background of the genre I'm moving in to.  
P.S. Streete Court High is based on an amalgamation of schools and Universities that I've been to. The cemetery in the middle of Streete Court High is based on the cemetery in the middle of University College London's Mile End Campus, the rest is based on an amalgamation of King's College London's Hodgkin Building and Great Hall, and the now defunct Streete Court School, which used to be located near Godstone (and was founded by J.V. Milne, Father of A.A. Milne, whom happened to be the author of Winnie the Pooh). Just thought you'd like to know.

**Legal Blurb:** Wolf O'Donnell is copyrighted to Nintendo Ltd. Danny Phantom and all related characters are copyrighted to Frederator Ltd and is the brainchild of Butch Hartman. All other characters are my ideas. Upon reading this story or this legal blurb, you hereby agree that I cannot be sued for anything whatsoever. This fanfic is merely meant for entertainment purposes and is in no way meant to profit off of the Danny Phantom series, and does in no way represent the Official Stance of Butch Hartman. Also, in no way is Streete Court High meant to be a true indication of any of the institutions that it is an amalgamation of. (Yes I know that's bad grammar, but let's not go into that now, okay?)

* * *

**Chapter One: Away **

"Why can't I see it?" murmured the old man and his deep voice echoed around him as loud as Thunder. "Why can I not see the Image of Our Ideal Future?" wondered the old man out loud, as he looked up at the concave, circular mirror above him and the coloured mist that swirled on its surface or in its surface. "I wonder, what could be interfering with my reception, with our reception?"

The old man's beard was as long as the stereotypical, idealised image of God Himself, as was his grey hair. He looked old, with a frail and thin face, with a thin, aquiline nose, the only features that could be visible through all that hair.  
"Why am I being denied the Image of Our Ideal Future?" he wondered out loud. "Why can't I see? Why am I not allowed to see it and who is preventing me from seeing it?"

Darkness was all that accompanied the old man, as he sat in his wheelchair, a huge monstrous machine with plastic tubes going in and out of him, but cleverly concealed by his hair and the great purple robe he wore like some patient's nightgown. The only light available was that from the large machine in front of him, to which the concave mirror was attached and framed with dried mandrake, and the light was an eerie purple that cast somehow managed to avoid casting its mauve hue on to the old man's face.

"If I may speak, sir; perhaps we have the wrong settings," piped up a voice from behind him. "It is entirely plausible that there is an error in the Spirit Algorithms. Perhaps we should recalculate them."

"No, there is nothing wrong with my Algorithms," protested another voice, a refined voice that had the same English accent that the old man did, but with less of the deep bass in it.

"Yet, your Algorithms were calculated, using Ideal Conditions," said the second voice, that seemed brusque and American compared to the other one. "In this world, there are rarely ideal conditions. Perhaps the interference is through the ghosts that inhabit the Spirit World itself."

"Too many Ghost Particles would interfere with our reception," agreed the third voice.

"Exactly!" exclaimed the American voice. "Sifu, I have a friend who works at Casper High, a Ghost Eater. He says he thinks he's found a half-boy, half-ghost studying there. If we could capture him and study him, we would be able to perfect the Spirit Algorithms our Dream Engine uses."

The old man's eyes widened at the mention of this anomaly.  
"Half boy?" he exclaimed. "Half ghost?" He would have turned around, but the batteries in his wheelchair had died recently and were only just being recharged. "Impossible," he exclaimed in response to the notion. "Yet, if such a youth exists..."

"Of course, I will bring him here, Sifu," came the reply from the American voice.

* * *

It was encroaching on his very being, threaten to swallow his consciousness whole. It seemed like a terrible force that dwelt in the recesses of his mind, beckoning him towards it and making the world pale in its presence. Nothing seemed as if it could defeat it and stop him from slipping into its lightless embrace, as it seemed to drain the colour, the sound and the very life out of his surroundings.

Yes, and even as time passed, he grew weaker to this terrible force and the complex nature of his consciousness, of his being awake, began to slow and factor after factor kicked in, to shut his very system down. Whatever was left of his consciousness became dim electrical impulses of the neurons in his mind and his eyelids became heavy.

Fight it, you've got to fight it, he managed to think to himself.

"Mr. Fenton!" cried a voice and a great one-metre ruler slammed down on the table in front of him, jolting him back awake. "Mr. Fenton, would you please care to repeat what I just said?"

The black-haired youth blinked, as he looked up at the figure of his English teacher, Mr. Lancer.  
"Er..." began Danny Fenton, only to trail off into awkward silence.

"I thought as much," said Mr. Lancer, as he scratched at his head. He turned to face the clock at the back of the classroom. "I'd like to see you in my office after class, Mr. Fenton."

Danny heard a laugh and turned round, to see the grinning face of Dash Baxter, the school bully and one of the football team's best players. That figured. Dash loved to see him in some trouble and if Danny wasn't in any, Dash always found some reason to torment him.

It was times like those that he just wished that he could disappear and slip away unnoticed from the rest of the class. It wasn't as if anybody in the class cared, with the possible exception of Tucker and Sam, his two best friends.

There were times when Danny just wanted to tell others about the reasons as to why he always seemed drained and tired in class. He wanted to tell them how it was him that had saved them from the enraged ghost of a cafeteria woman and how it was him that had saved them countless times from the ghosts that somehow managed to find their way into the world of the living. He wanted to tell them about how he had ended up with ghostly superpowers thanks to his parents' invention...

Yet what would be the point?

No one would believe him and even if they did and even if he did prove his powers in front of them, what then? Would he be celebrated as a hero? Would he be shunned as a freak?

In this day and age, it seemed as if the latter were more likely and every day he lived with the fear of being found out for what he really was, some half-boy, half-ghost hybrid. He was already unpopular, amongst the bottom rung of the social ladder, and what he didn't need was another excuse for them to shun him. No, if he was to be even accepted, he had to keep his true capabilities a secret from the others. He could never truly be himself, or all that he could truly be, for he lived in a society where it doesn't matter who you are but whether you conform.

The bell suddenly rang.

Danny gritted his teeth. Ever since the accident that had turned him into a half-boy, half-ghost hybrid, bells had always given him a slight headache. It wasn't too painful, yet every time that infernal bell rang, it bit into his mind as if it were a dentist's drill.

"Class dismissed!" called out Lancer, before he turned to the desk and began packing his materials up.

The entire class got up and started pupils started chatting to each other now that the school day was over. It was during these times, that he truly realised how much of a social reject he was. All of the others seemed to have friends, and there he was, all alone and in trouble with the teacher. He felt as if Life was laughing at him, like he always did whenever he was a dealt a bum hand by Life.

Everyone and everything seemed against him. Life was not a journey for him. It was a relentless uphill struggle for survival with bullies and teachers that seemed to have it in for him. What was their problem with him? Did his very presence offend them and if so, why?

A hand suddenly rested on Danny's shoulder.  
"Sorry, man," apologised Tucker, one of his best friends. "We'll wait for you outside, if you want," he said, referring to him and Sam next to him.

"Yeah," said Sam quietly with a nod of her head.

"That's okay," said Danny quietly. "You guys don't need to stay behind."

"Really?" exclaimed Tucker suddenly, as his face brightened up. "Cool, man." And he received a kick in the shins. "Ow, what was that for?" he asked, as he turned to Sam and received one of the coldest glares he had ever seen in his entire life. "Oh... er... yeah, no, we'll wait for you, Danny."

"Okay, Fenton," said Lancer, as he had finished packing his teaching materials into his briefcase. "Follow me." He picked up his briefcase and walked towards the classroom door, holding it open, as it one of those strange doors that automatically shut thanks to the chain built into it, and as a result, he looked as if he was a Porter, holding the Door open to Danny's Purgatory. "Hurry up, Fenton."

"Yes, Mr. Lancer," said Danny quietly, as he slung his backpack over his shoulder.

Sam and Tucker watched Danny walk past the rows of desks and chairs towards the doorway, solemn expressions on his face and their faces. It felt like watching a man on Death Row making his way to the venue of his execution. The silence that surrounded them, suffocated them, was every bit as thick as it would have been on Death Row and it was so potent that it nearly choked out tears from Sam and Tucker.

Yes, Danny had gotten into trouble with Lancer many times before, but this time round...

Yet there was something about this time that seemed more final than the other times. What would Danny's punishment be?

And the journey to Lancer's office seemed longer than most journeys. Every single metre turned into a thousand metres and the corridor seemed to stretch out towards Infinity before him. An endless row of lockers seemed to line the route, as if a Procession towards the chopping block where his Fate and Punishment awaited him.

"Mom? Dad?" exclaimed Danny, upon entering Mr. Lancer's Office. "What's going on here?" And his question was met with silence, as Mr. Lancer walked behind his desk and sat down.

"I asked your Parents to come," said Mr. Lancer.

Danny frowned. How did he get his parents in school so quickly? It didn't make sense, and the only way he could have... Suddenly, Danny realised the truth. This had been planned long before today.

"We've been talking with Mr. Lancer for quite some time now," said Maddie Fenton, Danny's mother. "He says you've been sleeping in class and have been getting in trouble quite a lot."

"That's not true," protested Danny abruptly. "Mom, you've got to believe me. I haven't been deliberately getting into trouble. Most of the time, it's Dash's..."

"Danny," interrupted Danny's father, Jack Fenton, "it doesn't matter. You just haven't been paying attention in any classes and your grades have been very disappointing."

Since when had his Father been interested in his life? Danny couldn't understand. Most of the time, his father had been too occupied with his hobby of ghost-catching to even notice that he existed. What could have changed to make his Father so concerned in his grades?

"That's why we've decided to send you to a Boarding School," suggested his Mother.

"What?"

"We've been going through all the options with Mr. Lancer," continued his Mother, "and we decided this to be the best."

Mr. Lancer nodded, with a slight smile on his lips.  
"Yes, we've discussed this thoroughly," agreed Mr. Lancer with a nod of his head. "We went through all the options and decided a strict Boarding School would be best. A friend of mine works in Streete Court High, outside the city, and I'm sure Streete Court High would be perfect for you."

"But, Mom, Dad, you can't afford to send me off to a Boarding School!" protested Danny.

"It would have made more sense to send you off to a Military School," agreed Jack Fenton, "but Streete Court High is one of the best schools in this state."

"And sending off one of our pupils to Streete Court High looks good for this school," added Mr. Lancer, only to correct himself. "Uh... I mean, it's one of the strictest Boarding Schools in the State, with one of the highest pass rates you'll ever find."

Danny thought of all his friends... Well, both of his only two friends, anyway. How would he see them, if he was locked up in a Boarding School on the outskirts of the city?  
"But Dad, Mom, I can't," he protested, as he shook his head. "Please, what about my friends?"

"They're a bad influence on you," was his Mother's reply.

"Bad influence?" exclaimed Danny in disbelief. "No way!" He shook his head. "They're not a bad influence, I swear."

"Swear?" exclaimed Mr. Fenton in disbelief. "I didn't raise my Son to swear! This is worse than I thought. I never thought that my own flesh and blood would ever use foul language! That's it! The final straw! You're going to Streete Court, whether you like it or not!"

And no matter what Danny said, he couldn't change their mind. He pleaded with them and cajoled them, but nothing could change their minds. They seemed resolute about their decision.  
"Please, you just can't split us up," protested Danny. "You can't split a friendship apart just like that. Sam and Tucker are about the only friends I have, left. You can't just take me away from them just like that."

"Oh, you'll make new friends, honey," said his Mother, "and there's no reason why your friends can't see you every now and then."

"This is for the best, son," said his Father.

* * *

And on Sunday, Sam and Tucker were waiting on the street outside Danny's place.

"Danny," called out Sam, upon seeing the black-haired youth step out of the apartment block carrying a large bag in one hand. Then she remained silent. Sam didn't know what else to say.

"Danny!" called out a voice from behind him.

The black-haired youth turned round, just in time to see his older sister rush up straight to him and grab him in such a ferocious hug that he dropped his luggage.  
"Jazz!" he protested at his older sister's embrace. "Oh, come on, Jazz. This is getting old. I'll only be a few miles away. You can come visit me whenever you want, say, every weekend."

"Are you kidding me?" protested Jazz, as she let go of her brother and shoved him away to arm's length. "I don't miss you that much."

"But..." protested Danny.

"I... I just..." stuttered Jazz, but she didn't know how to finish, such was the grip of her own secret sorrow. So she turned round and ran back in, past her Father, whom was carrying a suitcase underneath each arm.

"What's eating her?" asked Mr. Fenton.

For a while, Danny didn't reply. It was as if he was weighing up his own options.  
"Nothing, Dad," was his reply, as he reached down to pick up his own large duffel bag. He turned round and then saw Sam and Tucker in front of him. "Hey, guys," he said quietly, their very presence reminding him why he hadn't wanted to go in the first place.

"We're going to miss you, man," said Tucker quietly, almost as if the words were being choked by his own grief. "I mean, really miss you. Sam too, what with you two being..."

"What?" exclaimed Sam angrily. "We're not an item, Tucker! How many times do I have to tell you people that?" She crossed her arms, turning her back and her face away from Tucker. "I don't believe you."

"Come on, Sam," sighed Tucker. "Don't fight. Not today. I bet you're going to miss Danny the most."

Sam laughed short and sharply in response to Tucker's comment.  
"You must be kidding me," was her all too familiar reply. "It'd be a welcome change. No one's going to say that Danny and I am a couple once he's gone."

At first, Danny felt a bit hurt by Sam's comment, but as it turned in his mind, he soon realised the under text. A smile slowly spread across his lips.  
"Yeah, I'll miss you too, Sam," he said, as if she had just poured out grief-stricken words of farewell. "You too, Tucker." He then made his way towards the car that waited on the curb and threw his duffel bag into the back. "Look on the bright side. We can always see each other again. The School ain't that far away and I hear it's got a bus route in to town."

Tucker burst out into tears and rushed Danny, embracing him tightly.  
"I'll miss ya', man," he cried through his tears.

"Urgh, don't make me hurl," sighed Sam, as she kept her back to Danny and Tucker.

"Come on, Danny," called out his Father from the car, as he buckled himself in. "Let's get going! We don't want to be late for your new school, huh?"

"Coming, Dad," said Danny slowly, yet deliberately loudly. "Okay, Tucker, would you mind letting go of me now?"

"Huh?" exclaimed Tucker, and then he suddenly realised exactly what he was doing. "Oh, sorry, dude," he apologised, as he let go of Danny quickly and shirked away. "Sorry, man," he said, as he wiped the tears from his eyes with his hand. "I don't know what came over me."

"That's okay," said Danny reassuringly and then said nothing for a moment more, until his Father started honking the man. "Well," he said slowly and then paused to think up of what to say, before he finally plumped with the words, "I guess this is it."

"Yeah."

"Yeah," said Sam dismissively.

"Well... uh... bye then," said Danny awkwardly.

"Bye, man," sniffled Tucker.

"Yeah, bye," replied Sam, "Danny."

Danny nodded, as he made his way to the car. He stopped though and placed a hand on Sam's shoulder.  
"Don't worry, Sam," he said quietly, so only she could hear. "Everything'll be okay." He then let go and made his way to the car, getting in on the passenger's side and shutting the door behind him.

For a while, the car didn't move, as Danny buckled himself in, but then it screeched off unsafely, speeding into the traffic and nearly causing an accident, before it careered off down the road.

"Let's get going," said Sam, as she discreetly wiped the last tear from her eyes.

* * *

Streete Court High was a great big countryside manor that had been bought out from a wealthy man after he had gone bankrupt. There was a copse directly to the south of the Manor, a small woodland, that occupied the same sized-area that the main Manor's building also occupied. To the north-east was a lake surrounded by trees on all but one of its sides, and a small bridge to the west of it where the water drained from the lake through a small stream.

Directly to the west of the Manor was a gym and south of that, surrounded by stone walls, was a small square with a tarmac ground and with basketball hoops on either side.

A small archway was placed in the east-wall, which led out to the main courtyard in front of the Manor. Opposite it was another wall, with an archway that led out into a vast lawn, with a wall to the south with an archway that led out on to the road that ran past the Manor, and opposite that particular archway, a great beech tree with purple leaves growing from a flight of four stone steps.

Directly to the east of this lawn were two gardens, parallel to each other that led straight to a corridor made out of hedges that intersected the path towards an outdoor swimming pool that looked as if it had been built by Romans. The northern garden, was in actual fact, a small cemetery plot and was much smaller than the southern garden, hence its border did not even reach the swimming pool.

To the east of the southern copse were two soccer pitches and a football pitch. There was also a netted area for cricket practice, a strange thing for an American school. There was also an Atheletic field to the east of the swimming pool, which lay on the other side of a row of tall cedar trees that guarded the way to a slope that led down into a ditch that separated the field off from the rest of the school grounds.

The Manor itself had a brown facade with green shutters on the outside of every window, which had white frames. On the front was a couple of marble stairs that went underneath a white, marble portico underneath which was a grand oak door with Lion's Head knockers.

Danny's father had parked out what once had been a white, marble birdbath in the courtyard in front of the Manor, but had been filled with soil and flowers and clover allowed to grow in it.

Danny took one look at it and couldn't help but feel a sense of awe at it. There was some kind of magical quality to it that he had never thought possible in such a building like it. The grounds around it seemed almost quaint in a strange manner and served to ease his tensions slightly, as opposed to the man that stood on the steps outside the Manor.

This man had hair as black as his Father's and stared at them from underneath cross-looking eyebrows and through clear, spotless spectacle lenses. Upon seeing them, he made his way down the steps and walked straight over towards them.  
"I am Dr. Wolf O'Donnell," greeted the man, in a refined, British accent, "Vice Principal of Streete Court High." He extended a hand out towards them, as he said, "Are you the Fentons?"

"That I am," replied Fenton brashly, as he grabbed Dr. O'Donnell's hand and shook it heartily, almost too much for O'Donnell's taste, if the expression on his face was anything to go by. "And this is my son, Danny Fenton."

"Danny?" exclaimed O'Donnell with his left eyebrow raised. It soon lowered though, as a smile spread across his lips. "It is a pleasure to meet you. I must apologise for the Principal's inability to meet you right now, but I'm afraid that he is not as sprightly as he used to be." He turned round and saw a figure silhouetted against one of the windows. O'Donnell smiled, then said, "Please, allow me to take you to meet the Principal and young Daniel's Matron. You can take Daniel's luggage up to his room later."

He turned round abruptly and made his way across the stone tiles of the courtyard, before ascending the marble stairs until he reached the top underneath the shelter of the white portico that stood guard in front of the front door. There, O'Donnell stopped and only until he heard Danny and his Father catch up to him did he continue.

O'Donnell lead them through the double doors and into a great marble hallway with a black and white tiled floor. There was a wooden booth in front of them, standing next to a grand concrete pillar. There was a security guard asleep inside the wooden booth within this grand hall of marble with staircases on the wall to the left and the wall to the right. They both went up, round to the wall behind them, where they joined and then back up again to the floor above and near the base of each staircase was a large marble statue of someone looking like a Greek or Roman statesman, staring emotionlessly and passively out at no one and nothing in particular.

The Vice Principal led them up the right set of staircases up to the floor above, before turning left and walking down a wooden corridor with trophy cases lining the walls and a chequered linoleum floor. He turned left and led them into a dark office lit only by the green desk lamp sitting on a large oak desk near the window.

"Daniel Fenton, Mr. Jack Fenton, please allow me to introduce you to the Principal of Streete Court High, Professor Duncan Zeross," announced O'Donnell.

There was a cough from the great massive structure behind the chair, before it turned round.

Seated inside the chair was an old man, a very old man, with hair so long that it reached down past his shoulders. His beard was as long, flowing over the purple robe he wore over his body. And though the robe covered most of his body, it was evident that the tubes that sprouted out from the plastic IV bags snaked underneath the purple cloth and perhaps into the anaemic-looking old man in the highly mechanised wheelchair.

"Ah, Master Daniel Fenton," exclaimed the old man in a deep, booming voice that didn't sound natural from such a frail-looking old man. "It is a pleasure to meet you and your Father. I hope, Master Fenton, that you will find your stay here at Streete Court a pleasant one."

Silence followed soon after. It was an awkward silence, punctuated only by the lack of ticking from the Grandfather clock that stood to the side.

"Er... thank you," said Danny awkwardly, upon realising that he had to reply to Prof. Zeross' comment. "It's... nice to meet you."

"Ahem, sir," coughed O'Donnell quietly, before giving Danny a very cold glare.

"Sir," finished Danny quickly.

Prof. Zeross laughed and it was a deep laugh minus coughing.  
"Yes, well, that I'm not sure if you are used to calling us that in your school," commented Zeross with a slow smile spreading across his lips. "However, here, our students should always refer to the teachers as 'Sir'." He looked side to side and then said to Dr. O'Donnell, "Dr. O'Donnell, where is the Harestone House Matron?"

"Hmm, I would have thought she would be here by now," said O'Donnell coldly.

"I'm sorry, I'm late, Sirs," apologised a feminine voice from the doorway.

The voice belonged to a woman about the age of Danny's mother, but she had blonde hair instead of his mother's fiery red hair. She was also dressed in clothes that made her look almost like a Victorian woman.  
"I'm sorry for being late, but I had to see to a sick child," she explained.

"Sick?" exclaimed Zeross with concern. "Oh dear. I hope he's okay, Ms. Richmond."

"Yes, he's fine now," was the woman's reply. "Oh, is this the new student?"

"Yes, he is," replied O'Donnell sternly. "Master Fenton, this is Ms. Alethea Richmond, the Matron for Harestone House."

"You see, our students are divided into different Dormitories, each called Houses," explained Zeross calmly. "It makes for some friendly little competitions between the Four Houses." He smiled and his smile was nothing more than a line on his face. "Do not worry, Mr. Fenton," said Zeross without much prompt from Danny's father. "I'm sure your son will fit in quite well here."

At that point, Zeross started coughing and it was a hacking cough that made it sound as if he was coughing up his own lungs.  
"You must excuse me," when Prof. Zeross had recovered, thanks to some attention from both Ms. Richmond and Dr. O'Donnell. "I'm afraid that I've not been in good health as of late. Perhaps you would like to go and start unpacking your belongings, Master Fenton?"

"Uh, yeah," replied Danny with an awkward nod of his head.

"Good, good," said Zeross with a slow, rhythmic nodding of his head. "Just be sure that the next time I see you, it is because you have achieved well and beyond the call of your duty as a student... and not because you have misbehaved." He coughed again, but then managed to recover. "Alethea, please show young Daniel to his room."

"Of course, Professor," was Alethea's reply.

And of course, that was what she did. Alethea escorted them back to their car and helped Danny with a few of the lighter bags, before escorting him back into the Manor and back up the staircase. This time, however, she led them right down a corridor that looked as if it would look more at home inside an airport than a psychiatric ward, with a huge LED announcement board hanging above them that announced the time but was one hour slow.

Ms. Richmond then lead them up a flight of stairs until they reached a corridor with a wooden floor and white-washed walls, with wooden doors set into it at intervals.  
"This is your room," announced Ms. Richmond, as she opened the door and stepped aside to let Danny and his Father in. "You'll be getting you very own room, with a wardrobe, your own sink and mirror, two chairs, a desk for your homework and some shelves for your books." She smiled. "And of course, a bed all to yourself."

"Finally," exclaimed Danny's Father, as he dumped the suitcases to the floor. "I thought my back would give out any moment there... er... I mean, it's about time Danny got unpacked and settled in. I've got lots of work to do, you know."

"I guess we should let Danny get settled in," suggested Ms. Richmond.

"Good idea!" exclaimed Mr. Fenton. "Well, bye, Danny!" He then ducked back out, before Ms. Richmond closed the door slowly behind them, leaving Danny all alone in his new room.

It seemed very quiet and very sparse and empty. Danny looked around him. It could do with some posters to liven the place up. Yet, where would he start? He didn't know what to unpack first and there were still other things on his mind, memories of his own home and his family and friends.

A knock suddenly came from the door.

Danny turned round to face it. He didn't say a thing for a while, wondering who it could have been on the other side. Something deep inside hoped that it was a familiar face, yet he severely doubted it.  
"Come in," he called out after much deliberation, hoping that it was at least his Father.

The door opened slowly and almost awkwardly to reveal another student, wearing the uniform of Streete Court High, a black blazer with black trousers, black shoes and white shirt and a black, yellow-striped tie. And within the yellow stripe was a blue stripe, denoting that the student belonged to Harestone House.  
"Hi," greeted the youth in a slight British accent that certainly wasn't as pronounced as that of Zeross or O'Donnell. "May I come in?"

There was something about the way that Alex talked that Danny found rather familiar. He had the same accent as O'Donnell, although it was less pronounced, and the way he acted was very much like the way Dr. O'Donnell had done.  
"Uh... sure, why not?" was Danny's reply.

The youth on the other side was shaped much like Danny, yet he had silvery grey hair as opposed to Danny's black and his irises were of such a dark brown that they almost looked black.  
"Hi, my name's Alex," greeted the silvery-haired youth. "I thought I'd welcome you to Streete Court on behalf of all the others."

"Thanks," said Danny with a slight smile on his lips. "My name's Danny."

A small smile spread across Alex's face, but then disappeared.  
"Nice to meet you," replied Alex and then he frowned. "You haven't unpacked yet?"

"Uh, no... I haven't," replied Danny with a shake of his head.

"Here, let me help you," offered Alex.

"No, I couldn't," protested Danny.

"I insist," stressed Alex.

And between the two of them, Danny's stuff was unpacked. Comics piled up on to the shelf, as did a few of Danny's books. Posters ended up slapped on to the wall at angles and Danny's clothes ended up in the wardrobe, as Alex had told Danny about the school's strict rules concerning clothes and the way they should be stored.

"Man, that was quick," commented Danny, as he looked around him.

"Wow, so you play the guitar, eh?" exclaimed Alex, upon producing a guitar out of apparently nowhere.

Danny scratched his head. He had never seen that guitar before and it certainly wasn't his. Where did it come from?  
"Uh... no, I don't," he told Alex truthfully. "That's not mine."

"Oh," exclaimed Alex, as he looked at it, holding in his hand like was he holding a dead rat. "Hmm, I guess the last guy who lived here must have left it behind." He looked towards Danny. "Perhaps you should take up the guitar. Who knows? Maybe you could form a band."

"I'd be terrible," retorted Danny.

"Not with practice, you wouldn't be," was Alex's reply.

There was suddenly a screeching of tires outside, which made Danny dash to the window. He peered out through the clear glass and saw his Dad's car speeding off, leaving a trail of dust in its wake.  
"No!" he cried out in disbelief, though he should have been used to it by now. "I don't believe it! How could he just leave like that?"

"Your Dad?"

"Yeah," sighed Danny heavily, before he collapsed on to his bed. "I should have known though," he said with another heavy sigh. "Dad was almost never there for me when I was younger. He was always too obsessed with his ghost catching inventions."

Alex frowned.  
"Ghost Catching?" exclaimed Alex in surprise. "You're not a Ghost Eater, are you?"

"What?" exclaimed Danny.

"You're not a big eater, are you?" asked Alex quickly. "It's nearly time for Supper."

Danny's brows furrowed together, as he thought about it. Nearly time for supper? Now that he thought about it, he was quite hungry. He wondered what the food in a Boarding School was like and whether it was anything like cafeteria food at Casper High.  
"What's the food like here?" asked Danny curiously, as he sat up.

"Not very good," was Alex's reply, "that's why I asked whether you were a big eater. If you are, you'd probably waste away." He then turned round abruptly, as if he had heard something. "Erm... I'd better get going," he said. "I've got to see Dr. O'Donnell. Perhaps we'll see each other at Supper?" And he said the last bit, as he made his way to the door and then disappeared round the corner of the doorframe upon uttering the last word.

It seemed that everyone wanted to leave him alone that day, from his friends to his own family and now to complete strangers.

"Knock, knock," said Ms. Richmond, as she knocked on his door. "Are you all done?"

"Yes, Ms. Richmond," replied Danny.

"Please, call me, Alethea," she said with a gentle smile on her face. It was then that she noticed what Danny was wearing. "Oh, you can't wear that to Supper tonight! School uniforms only, especially seeing as you'll be sitting at the Head Table tonight."

"Head Table?" exclaimed Danny in surprise.

"Well, you are the new student," explained Alethea. "Come, you must get washed." She then opened his wardrobe without his permission, looked around and rooted around for his blazer, white shirt, tie and trousers and grey socks, that he had been fitted out with before arriving. "I'll leave you to get washed and dressed," she said, as she gave him the necessary components of his uniform, "but you must be ready in ten minutes. I'll wait at the end of the corridor." She then quickly dashed out, leaving Danny to his own devices.

Danny glanced towards the uniform and at the black blazer with Streete Court's insignia on the breast pocket. On it was a phoenix with a key in its mouth within a shield, all of it done in yellow brocade. This was above the school's insignia that was marked out in golden brocade underneath the shield and read, 'Veritas sine timore'. He had no idea what it meant and no idea what language it was in, but that didn't matter.

In ten minutes, he wore the uniform and did up the tie as best as he could, which was to say, not very well. The knot was too big and the tie too short and it didn't even cover the top button of his white shirt. Still, it was the best that he could do, and so he quickly rushed out, closing his room's door behind him.

"Oh, that won't do!" exclaimed Alethea, upon seeing him. She then undid his tie and redid it for him, making it perfect, nearly strangling him when she tightened it for him. "There! Perfect! Come now. You must be early for Supper." Alethea then grabbed his hand and led him back the way she had first led him, down the stairs and then through the empty corridor and down the flight of marble steps in the Main Hall.

Danny was dragged past the wooden booth and towards a set of double doors that looked identical to another set to the left. He was led through these doors and into a great dining room with oblong tables set out all in a meaningful and ordered pattern.

On the far side was a smaller oblong table of a darker mahogany than the other tables. Arranged around it were nine chairs, two of which were very grand chairs and Danny guessed those were the chairs that the Principal and Vice-Principal were to take. But how was the Principal supposed to sit in one of those chairs?

"Perfect timing, Ms. Richmond," said O'Donnell, as he stood behind them in his best dinner jacket. "Wouldn't you agree, Reverend Fordyce?"

Next to O'Donnell was a Reverend dressed all in black, with the white clerical collar. His hair was an unnatural blonde on top, whilst a greying blonde on the sides, indicative of one of the worst toupees Danny had ever seen. The Reverend also seemed to wear mirrored sunglasses that masked his eyes.

"Yeah, pretty good timin' if I say so myself," agreed the Reverend in the most brash-sounding voice Danny had ever heard. It was a voice with an all-American accent, unlike those of Zeross and O'Donnell and Alex, which finally reassured Danny that he hadn't left the United States. "So, is this the young Mr. Fenton, I've been hearing 'bout?"

"It certainly is," replied O'Donnell calmly.

"Nice to meet ya'," was the Reverend's greeting, as he scratched at his head. "Put 'er there." He extended a hand out towards Danny, which the youth shook nervously. Still, that didn't stop the Reverend from nearly shaking Danny's arm off his shoulder. "I sure do hope you'll enjoy yer time here." He then noticed O'Donnell glaring at him coldly and a frown appeared on his face, before it lapsed into an expression of momentary realisation. "Ah, yeah... I'm awfully sorry I weren't there to meet you today, but I was... consummating a marriage a ways down the road."

"Uh, that's okay," was Danny's reply.

"Now Danny, we have a strict little tradition around here," said Alethea with a small smile on her face. "The different Houses file in by year, starting with the younger years and ending with the older years, each year accompanied by the Head of their Table, who's usually a teacher here. Then in come the last year and Dr. O'Donnell and Reverend Fordyce. No one's allowed to sit until they sit, but on this occasion, you may sit down at the Head Table before everyone else."

The explanation made Danny wonder what kind of archaic institution he had been enrolled into. He didn't even notice Reverend Fordyce reaching underneath his toupee with one hand and scratching underneath it.

Danny was led across to the table and was seated to the left of the chair that was meant for Dr. O'Donnell and Alethea sat beside him. There they waited, as every single last pupil filed in to stand beside their tables behind their chairs.

The very last people to come in were Dr. O'Donnell and Reverend Fordyce, having left the room soon after Danny and Alethea had taken their places. They were accompanied by the school's remaining teachers, whom were all lucky enough to not have been assigned to be the Heads of any Tables.

Dr. O'Donnell sat to Danny's right and the Reverend to his right. And when O'Donnell and the Reverend sat down, everyone else did.

Supper, to say the least, was nothing special. It started off with soup that had obviously come out of cans and was then followed by generic cafeteria chicken pie with roast potatoes and peas so hard they could have been used as the bullets for a firing squad. The students all washed this down with water, unlike the teachers at the Head Table and Danny himself, as he was seated there.

What they drank appeared to be wine, but Alethea assured him that it was anything but.

"It's actually purple grape juice," Alethea had told him. "Dr. O'Donnell is a complete teetotal."

After everyone had had their fill, the plates were cleared away by some students, each chosen from each table, and taken out of the Dining Room. Moments later, the same students came back each armed with a tray full of peach cobbler. This they placed at the Head of each table.

Suddenly, O'Donnell took his spoon and then hit it sternly against his wine glass, as he rose up from his seat.  
"Attention please," he called out and the Dining Hall immediately went silent. "Tonight, we have a new pupil amongst our midst, recently transferred from Casper High."

Danny now felt some red creeping across his cheeks. He had never experienced a public introduction on this scale before and he could feel his cheeks becoming as hot as fried bacon, and was sure he was beginning to look like a tomato with a face and hair.

"Allow me to introduce you to Master Daniel Fenton," announced O'Donnell, as he gestured for Danny to stand up, which he did. He turned round to face Danny. "As Vice Principal of Streete Court High, I now formally welcome you to our Community on behalf of Principal Zeross." He then reached for his wine glass, which had been topped up with more grape juice by one of the teachers. "Now, as is tradition, I must ask you all to raise your glasses and drink to young Mr. Fenton's health!"

Well, this was certainly unexpected. Danny never though he'd have an entire school drink to his health, even if it was forced upon the students by the Vice Principal.

"To Daniel Fenton," called out O'Donnell. "May his Studies here be fruitful and may his time here be pleasant. To Daniel Fenton!"

"To Daniel Fenton!" chanted back the rest of the students and teachers.

* * *

Darkness was all that accompanied Professor Zeross, as he sat in his wheelchair, a huge monstrous machine with plastic tubes going in and out of him, but cleverly concealed by his hair and the great purple robe he wore like some patient's nightgown. The only light available was that from a large machine in front of him, to which as concave mirror was attached and framed with dried mandrake, and the light was an eerie purple that cast somehow managed to avoid casting its mauve hue on to the old man's face.

"Why can't I still see the Image of the Dragon King?" he wondered out loud. "Could Fordyce be wrong about this Daniel Fenton? Or is it that someone is shielding young Fenton's true power and keeping it from me? And if so, who? Who could it be?"

Zeross inhaled sharply, his bony, skeletal hand rising upwards as if to touch the concave mirror high above his head.  
"Why?" he exclaimed. "Why? I want to know! Why can't I harness the Power of the Spirit World? Why?"

**_To be continued... _**


	2. Chapter 2: Ridiculous Thoughts

**Ghost Eater **

**By Wolf O'Donnell**

Author's Note: I've received word from Fuzy Llama that this story is too confusing, due to its detailed description. Well, it is a PG-13. I'm assuming that the people reading it are reasonably mature enough to read such things without getting bored. But I'll try to find some middle ground. Oh, and Blackfire14, you read too much Harry Potter. Hogwarts is most likely based on J. K. Rowling's very own school experiences and so is Streete Court.  
P.S. I wasn't liking the Boarding School direction, so I've decided to alter the plot slightly.

**Chapter Two: Ridiculous Thoughts**

The darkness was suffocating and it seemed as if he had lived in this darkness for what seemed like countless years. It was a stillness, a silence that drowned all life and seemed to make the world pale in its wake. Trapped in a limbo between Life and Death, all one can experience is the pure darkness and silence of sleep. Dreams were his only reality and even in these dreams, the colour and vitality had been drained away.

Yet now what was this strange new feeling?

An awakening, perhaps?

Yes, and even as time passed, the complex nature of an awakening started to blossom, working along a growing cascade of factors, neural networks within the brain and causing the very body and mind to stir from its slumber. The dim stirrings of the subconscious that lead to the full dawning of the consciousness, that which we experience every morning when we wake from our slumber, until at last we recognise ourselves again. So it was with him, taking form, a mist of awareness, of sensation, growing and making itself real and known.

Soon, he became aware. His eyes fluttered open, to be greeted by a vast expanse of white that was as bland and still as the Darkness that had once been all he could experience before. And as his eyes became adjusted to the light, he soon made out structure in the white and found they were tiles with long fluorescent lights attached to them.

That was strange. The ceiling above him didn't seem like the ceiling of his Dorm Room. Where was he and what was he doing there? How did he come to be in this strange place that he had never seen before and why could he not remember how he had come to be here?

"Hey, everybody! He's awake!"

That voice. That voice sounded so familiar to Danny, yet why couldn't he place it? He turned his eyes and saw two figures standing by the side of his bed with familiar faces on them, faces that reminded him whom the voice had belonged to.  
"Guys?" exclaimed Danny in surprise.

"Danny," said Tucker, "good to see you're okay, man."

"Yeah," agreed Sam, as she smiled at him, a faint smile that Danny couldn't quite place.

"Danny!" cried Jazz suddenly and she rushed forwards, hugging him tightly. "I was so worried about you!" She then pulled away from him until she was at arm's length from her younger brother. "What were you doing out there?"

Danny looked around him instead of replying. He couldn't understand. Why was he not at Streete Court High? This room didn't seem like the room at the Boarding School he had been sent to by his parents. It looked more like a hospital room more than anything else. Or was it? He wondered, as he attempted to sit up.

"Whoa, don't get up," called out Sam, as she reached out to him and gently pushed him down. "You don't want to strain yourself."

"What do you mean?" asked Danny and for the first time, he realised that he sounded very quiet and weak as if his strength had been sapped straight out of his body. "Where am I? What happened?"

His questions were met with silence, a suffocating silence that seemed more painful for Danny's older sister and his two best friends than to him. Why were they so silent? What had happened at Streete Court that had ended up with him being in this hospital? And the more the silence continued, the more his fears started to deepen and consume his mind, pushing all other thoughts into the shadowy recesses of his mind.

"I don't understand," said Danny, as he shook his head. "The last I remember was being in my Dorm Room."

"Dorm Room?" blurted out Tucker in surprise. "What Dorm room, man?"

A frown appeared on Danny's face, as he looked towards Tucker. What did his friend mean by that?  
"The one at the Boarding School I got sent off to," he said sternly. "Remember?"

"Uh… Danny… You were never sent off to a boarding school," said Jazz with a heavy tone of concern in her voice.

Never got sent off to a Boarding School? But… And now that Danny thought about it, something didn't quite add up.  
"But… you guys saw me off and everything," protested Danny in disbelief. "I got sent off to…" He then trailed off, as memories started resurfacing back up to his mind. "But…" he murmured to himself.

Danny looked at them and saw the concerned looks on their faces.  
"I got sent off after," he began and then trailed off. "After…" he said again, only to trail off. He thought hard and long. "It was a dream," he said quietly to himself, as he realised he couldn't remember why he had been sent off to the Boarding School in the first place, "but it seemed so real." He shook his head in disbelief. "It all seemed so real," he said to himself more loudly. "I could have sworn I was there."

"Where?" asked Tucker.

It was then that Danny realised how loudly he had been talking, though still quiet, but just audible enough for his friends and his sister to hear him.  
"Oh, nothing," replied Danny with a shake of his head. "It was just a dream I had, but it seemed so real I could have sworn it was real."

But if that was a dream, then… How? What had happened then before he had ended up with that dream?

"So, dude, what happened?" asked Tucker curiously, before Sam kicked him in the shin.

Danny thought quietly to himself. He wasn't quite sure, but from the way that Sam kicked Tucker, it must have had something to do with his ghostly and currently nameless alter-ego. It must have been, otherwise why would Sam have done that to Tucker? After all, as far as he was concerned and as far as Sam and Tucker were concerned, Jazz knew nothing about his special skills, those powers given to him by the accident in his parents' laboratory.

Suddenly, Danny realised and remembered what had happened to him.

It was if the floodgates had opened and memories poured into his mind, drowning out all other thoughts. Danny remembered the fight against the masked Ghost Hunter and his Undead Army….

* * *

_The graveyard had been quiet, almost too quiet for Danny. He had arrived there, after transforming into his ghost form, a white-haired youth with glowing green eyes, dressed in a black jumpsuit with white gloves and white boots that were as white as his snow white hair._

_For you see, he had sensed a ghost in the nearby vicinities. Many ghosts, to be exact, and it was his job to defeat them and send them back to the Spirit World before they could cause any trouble in the World of the Living. That was his duty, a duty he had figured out for himself after gaining his special powers._

_Without warning, though, a beam of light blue energy suddenly flew through the air and struck him full on in the chest, knocking him back through the air to fly and crash into a headstone with a painful thud._

_When the mist started to clear, Danny lifted his head up, ignoring the pain that now throbbed where he had hit the hard stone of the headstone. And in the now clear graveyard, he could see a table in front of him, draped in a yellow cloth and someone was standing behind it with three candles positioned on the left, right and in front of him, and huge yellow banners behind it, marked with Chinese characters in bright red ink._

_The three candles were all red, the middle one longer than the others, and both had rectangular pieces of yellow paper plastered on them, each with a Chinese incantation written on them in red ink, the same incantation that was marked on the banners that flapped in the wind behind the man that had fired at Danny._

_At the time, Danny had thought nothing of it, but he noticed that the man was wearing a mask with no eyeholes in it, a white mask with a Chinese character painted on it in red ink. The mysterious stranger had also been wearing yellow, Oriental silk robes and a black Oriental hat on top of his head. All of these were strange things for a man to wear, especially for someone who was so obviously a ghost hunter._

_And there in his right hand was a smoking object, from which the energy beam had come from. It was a wooden octagon, painted red and green with a circular mirror in the middle. Surrounding the mirror were eight sets of three lines and each set was of a varying combination of a full line or a line that had been broken in the middle. Something similar was on the cloth of the yellow table, but in the place of the circular mirror was the universally-recognised symbol of Yin-Yang._

_"Strange set up you've got here," Danny had said._

_Another beam of light shot out from it, but this time Danny turned invisible and intangible, hoping that the beam of energy would pass through him. It didn't and he was hit in the chest again and sent flying back again, a searing pain burning his chest as if someone with a red hot iron had branded him._

_"I want you," the masked man had whispered, his voice echoing inside the mask as if had been wearing a metallic bucket on his head. "I want you, Ghost Boy."_

_"Well, you'll just have to catch me, won't you?" Danny had said in reply, before he flew up into the air and dodged another blast of light. He had then flown straight at the masked man, but was suddenly caught in another blast of light that had sent him crashing down to the floor._

_It smarted and he didn't know how the masked man was doing it. Whatever the beam was, it sure could harm ghosts. He had to avoid it if he wanted to get anywhere near the masked man._

_Then with a great battle cry, Danny rushed straight at the masked man, flying through the air. And he would have made it, if something hadn't been in the way like a huge sheet of glass. He had crashed into it like a fly smashing against a window and then fell back, clutching at his head.  
"Ow! What's going on?" he cried out loud, as he looked towards the masked man. He saw him pointing down and then his gaze trailed down and he saw a circle surrounding the masked man._

_"Ghosts cannot harm anyone that stands in a circle," the masked man had told Danny, as he put the wooden octagon down and dipped his fingers into a pot near a candle. He then flicked his fingers at Danny, flicking a few droplets on to his forehead. "Now, stay still so I can eat your ghost personality." He then rang a small silver bell._

_And the ringing, like the ringing of all bells ever since the accident, had made Danny's head hurt. It was nothing like the loud cacophonous ringing of the school bells, however, but it still hurt slightly. It was like one of those irritating pains that didn't quite hurt but made itself known to you._..

* * *

Danny could still remember the zombies hopping towards him from behind the table. Their faces were covered in large, rectangular sheets of yellow paper inscribed with a Chinese incantation in red, like the ones that had been on the candles. They were large enough, however, to obscure their faces and their noses and mouth, yet the zombies, Chinese vampires the masked man had called then, still managed to find Danny.

He had thought they would be easy to dispose of, especially seeing as all they could do was hop on both feet with their arms outstretched. So he had knocked them down with blasts of ectoplasmic energy, but when the man rang the bell again they all managed to float back on to their feet and resumed their hopping towards the young ghost boy.

And a ghost he was, and with being a ghost came its benefits. He had managed to avoid them by becoming invisible and insubstantial and in doing so, he flew straight towards the man that controlled these Chinese vampires without any hindrance and he would have made it too, if it hadn't been for one oversight.

Only, Danny didn't anticipate the masked man's enchanted sword. The sword was an ordinary one, or would have been, were it not for the Chinese incantation that had been stuck on to the sword, the very same one that adorned the candles and the faces of the zombies. As it was, the blade of the sword bit into him as it would have done to a real human being, even when he became invisible and intangible.

And the masked man had been very quick. Danny received multiple blows, the broad side of the blade on his head and the sharp edges against his chest and sides. And the pain had been more agonising than anything he had ever experienced with his other encounters with the other ghosts or ghost hunters that he had fought.

Danny could still remember what the man had done next. He could remember how the masked man had grabbed a hollowed-out gourd that had a stopper placed in its end. It had the same incantation as did the masked man's other items stuck on to it and when he opened the gourd-bottle, it was like activating the Fenton Ghost Flask that his Dad had invented, yet he was now on the receiving end of it and his ghost-side was being torn away from his body.

He had almost lost his ghost-half to the masked man, had he not fired a blast of ghostly energy that had shattered the table and sent the masked man flying backwards.

Yet… That was the last thing Danny could remember, that is, until his memories of being transferred to Streete Court. But that was a dream, wasn't it? It had to be. How did he end up in Mr. Lancer's class soon afterwards? He certainly couldn't remember anything between those two events and even the events in Mr. Lancer's class after the battle seemed hazy. Had he collapsed in the graveyard and if so, who had been the one to save him from the masked man?

"The last thing I remember was being in the graveyard," said Danny quietly.

"Yeah, we found you there," agreed Tucker with a nod of his head. "Man, were you beat up pretty bad."

"What happened there?" asked Jazz more insistently this time.

For a while, Danny debated about whether to tell Jazz the truth. It would have been best, but, how would his sister react? Would she shun him?  
"I don't remember," he decided to say in reply to his question. "I'm sorry, Jazz. I just can't remember."

Jazz looked at Danny as if she didn't believe him. It was a look of complete and utter disbelief, as if she knew he was lying, but that expression soon disappeared.  
"That's okay," said Jazz reassuringly with a slight smile on her face. "All that matters is that you're okay. I mean, when we first found you…" She couldn't finish the sentence, almost as if seeing her little brother in his beaten up state had been incredibly traumatising. "I'm sorry, Danny," she said quietly, as she looked away from him. "I'm sorry."

"About what?" asked Danny curiously, and then he noticed that his Mother and Father weren't there. "Where's Mom and Dad? Did something happen to them?" he asked her. He was worried that when he lost consciousness, he reverted back to his human form, and in that instant, the masked man could have recognised him and may have known whom his parents were.

Jazz laughed, although it didn't sound like a sincere laugh. It was more of a… What kind of a laugh was it? It certainly wasn't a happy one.  
"No, they're fine," she told him with a reply. "They're on their way right now."

Danny sighed in relief. For a moment there, he feared that the masked man had targeted his parents soon after the battle. But if they were fine, then what was Jazz looking so down for?  
"So what's…?" he began.

"You've been out for quite some time, Danny," Sam told him quietly.

"Yeah, a really long time," agreed Tucker with a nod of his head.

"How long?" asked Danny worriedly, as he looked at them carefully, trying to discern how long he had been out from the looks on their faces. He waited. There seemed to be no reply from them and the expressions on their faces made him fear the worst. How long had he been in a coma? A long time? How long? Two weeks? Six months? A year? "H-h-h-how long?" he stuttered, fearing he had spent a huge chunk of his life asleep.

"Two months, man," was Tucker's reply. "We thought you'd never wake up."

Danny mouthed out the words, two months, in disbelief. He couldn't believe that he had spent a sixth of the year unconscious, almost eight weeks unconscious.  
"Oh man, that's…" he began, only to trail off. "Two months?"

"Yeah, but it doesn't matter now," said Jazz with a shake of her head. "Now, you can come back home."

"I'm 'fraid that won't be possible, ma'am," called out a Texan-sounding voice from the doorway.

Standing there was a man that looked very familiar to Danny. It was a doctor, that was sure, but he looked exactly like Reverend Fordyce did from his dream.  
"Howdy, Danny," greeted the doctor, as he swaggered up towards Danny's bed. "I'm Dr. Fordyce," he said, introducing himself to a wide-eyed Danny. "I must say, kid, you've done pretty darned well to wake up so soon. Yes, siree."

"What do you mean Danny can't come home?" asked Jazz angrily, as she turned to Fordyce.

The doctor was scratching at his head with a pencil he held in his left hand, as he turned to face Jazz and Danny's friends.  
"Well, Ms…" he trailed off until she Jazz told him her name, "Ms. Fenton, we have to keep Danny here for a week or so for observations. He was beat pretty badly and last I saw a CAT scan of his noggin', he looked pretty okay… But we can't take chances, ma'am." He shook his head. "Nope, we can't take chances," he repeated himself. "Y'see, ma'am, we've had instances of patients relapsing soon after they've awoken."

The doctor smiled widely.  
"Trust me on this," he told her. "It ain't safe for him to be discharged, not so quickly anyhow." And then he said, in response to the expressions on their faces, "Don't worry, though. You'll still be able to visit him and I'm sure it'll be mighty better now that he's awake."

Suddenly there was a jolly little ringing, one that Danny recognised as being from Jazz's mobile. She excused herself quickly and then went out to take the call, much to Fordyce's annoyance.

"Would you kindly take that outside the hospital?" he nearly shouted at her. "No mobiles switched on in the hospital!"

"I'm sorry," apologised Jazz, before she dashed out quickly.

"So, how're you feeling, son?" asked Dr. Fordyce, as he reached in his pocket for a little light. He reached over and grabbed Danny firmly, lifting his eyelid and shining a light into his eyes.

"Uh… fine, Doc," replied Danny, as a light was shone into one eye and then the other.

"Good to hear that, son," drawled Dr. Fordyce, as a beeping resounded in the room. He delved into his coat pocket and then brought a pager, looking at it carefully. "Hmm… well, I'm sorry as all Heck, but I'm needed elsewhere." He then dashed out, without even saying another word or even calling for someone to take over for him.

Now that Sam and Tucker were the only ones in the room with Danny, he decided to tell them everything about the night he had encountered the masked man. He told them everything, about how the masked man couldn't possibly have seen through his mask and how he had called upon a small army of undead zombies that he had called Chinese vampires.

"Reminds me of some Chinese film I saw," said Samantha calmly. "Seems as if you had an encounter with a Chinese exorcist, Danny, but I don't remember the guys in the films wearing any masks."

"Maybe he just didn't want Danny to see him," suggested Tucker. "I mean, most of these ghost hunters wear masks right? It's kinda there thing."

"I guess it is," sighed Danny. "Still, I wish I could have got a good look at him."

Danny didn't know why, but he really wanted to encounter that Ghost Hunter again. He wanted to beat him and unmask him, but for what reason? That was unknown even to him, as if it was another personality that wanted it, a personality that was separate from the rest of him. He shook his head, as if it would help, as if he could shake the thoughts right out of his mind and be rid of them, those scary thoughts that didn't seem to belong to him, or at least, thoughts that he didn't want to own up to having.

Suddenly, he felt a chill run down his spine and his breath became a cold mist. They were all signs that a ghost was nearby. It made him want to go off and find the source of this ghost, but just as he was contemplating turning ghost, Jazz walked back in with a forlorn expression on her face.

"Jazz?" exclaimed Danny in surprise.

"Mom and Dad can't make it," she told him.

An angry silence followed soon after that seemed to drain all energy out of Danny and his thoughts of chasing down the ghostly presence he had sensed earlier disappeared from his mind.  
"Figures," said Danny bitterly.

It seemed to him that his Father had almost always never been there for him. Dad had always been too busy with his ghost-obsession to ever care. It was a powerful obsession that was a black hole, that devoured his Father's time and even started to eat into his Mother's time, dragging her into the work to capture ghosts. Low grades were a concern of theirs, especially since the accident in his parents' lab, yet it seemed that only his Mother ever cared and she was hardly ever there for him thanks to his Father's ghost obsession.

"Now, that's not fair, Danny," protested Jazz. "They've been there for us plenty of times."

"To embarrass us?" retorted Danny, silencing Jazz in an instant.

He was right. Most of the time they had been there, they had been nothing more than a source of embarrassment. Still, even those moments had disappeared as of late, thanks to the grant their parents had received from the Blue Bow Group, some strange conglomeration of rich investors that had expressed an interest in his parents' work.

"Sometimes I wonder if Dad even cares," sighed Danny.

"Sure they do," protested Jazz. "You know they want you to get good grades and grow up to be a fine young man."

Danny's thoughts drifted back to his dreams, the very dreams that had plagued his comatose days. Perhaps they contained some truth in them, the way they seemed to capture elements from his life.

"So why is Dad never there for us?".

* * *

A banner hung on the wall. It was a blue banner with a black bow-shape inside of it, looking more like a small circle with two triangles sticking out of it. A blue B could be found in each end of the bow-shape, the one on the right-side being the mirror image of the B on the other side. This was the symbol of the Blue Bow Group, though normally, the bow would be blue with white letters inside of it.

That particular symbol was on the breast pocket of black suit that the man wore, as he sat in front of the banner at a large mahogany desk with his hands clasped together as if he were waiting for himself. He seemed to be like any other generic man sitting at a desk, with his black suit and normal blue shirt and normal blue tie. The green four-leaf clover badge on his lapel seemed to be a distinguishing factor, though, as was the left lens of his glasses, which was tinted red.

Suddenly, the phone rang. He reached over and picked up a green phone from its hook, holding it up to his ear.  
"O'Donnell, speaking," he said sternly. He then heard the voice on the other end. "Ah, Fordyce, what news have you of the boy?" he asked curiously, his British accent as thick as it had been in Danny's dream. He listened quietly before saying, "What? You promised that you could keep his brain activity flat-lined. A conscious Daniel Fenton is no good to us."

O'Donnell sighed angrily.  
"When can you get the chance to put him on haloperidol?" he asked the man on the other end. He waited for the reply and then said, "No, that's not soon enough. Already his very presence is interfering with the running of the GPFDM." He then nodded, as if in agreement to Fordyce's comments. "Yes, we want him prepped for the Destiny Control Drugs that Sifu prepared."

He listened carefully as Fordyce said something to him.  
"Don't be ridiculous!" he nearly shouted into the receiver. "That much haloperidol will damage the boy, if not outright kill him. We want him in one piece, ghost personality included. Got that? You can't eat his ghost side. There's only one ghost side and we need it, if we're to summon the Shi Ti'en Shen Wang." O'Donnell's breathing became shallower, as he listened. "No! I don't care if you need to. Eat his ghost side and I will come over there and hollow you out. I'm sure there's plenty of ghosts out there that'd love to have a physical body in this world…"

A smile spread across O'Donnell's face.  
"See that you do that then," he told Fordyce calmly. "Goodbye, Fordyce." He then hung the phone back on its receiver.

The phone rang again and O'Donnell snatched it off its hook again.

"Doc, why can't I move my legs?" asked a crackly voice on the other end of the phone.

O'Donnell slammed the phone back on its hook, and then tacked on a yellow sticky note with a Chinese incantation written on it in red ink, dipping his fingers into a pot of water and then smearing on the top edge of the sticky note.  
"Blasted ghosts," he murmured under his breath, before he turned back to his paper work. "One day… One day…"

* * *

Roslyn Hospital, the very hospital in which Danny had been interred, was a strange one. It sat on the outskirts of the city in a vast expanse of countryside that looked uncharacteristic of the surroundings the city should have been in.

Many of the hospital buildings were what you'd expect from a hospital. Yet the hospital itself had once been a Manor, bought from a rich man that had gone bankrupt.

There was a copse directly to the south of the Manor, a small woodland, that occupied the same size area that the Manor's main building took up. To the north-east was a lake surrounded by trees on all but one of its sides, and a small bridge to the west of it where the water drained from the lake through a small stream.

The main buildings of the hospital lay directly to the west of the Manor, which had been converted into a Mental Institute by the Hospital Directors. Maudsley, it was called, and it was one of the most feared buildings in the set of buildings that made up the hospital.

The place, in fact, looked exactly like the Boarding School in Danny's dream down to the gardens to the east of the vast lawn on the east-side of Maudsley. Even down to the large purple-leaved beech tree that stood there at the steps at one end of the lawn, like a domineering giant.

It made him wonder about the dream and how the grounds of this hospital had become implanted in his dream. Was it a dream? Or perhaps this hospital was the dream and he was really back in the Boarding School? But… The events before he was sent to the Boarding School just didn't add up. This couldn't have been the dream, could it?

"Really, I don't need this," protested Danny, as he was wheeled across the lawn by a blonde nurse whom looked exactly like the Matron from his dreams and even shared the same name.

"Nonsense, you need the fresh air," protested Alethea.

Danny shook his head.  
"No, I mean, I can walk, honestly," he said, although he didn't like the idea of walking around in the paper-thin gown he was currently wearing.

"Dr. Fordyce didn't like the idea of that," said Alethea in reply. "He feared you might relapse."

"No way," protested Danny. "I'm fine, really!" He then turned round to face the east-side of the Mental Institute and saw the highly mullioned French windows that led to the library.

"Yeah, that place gives me the creeps too," whispered Alethea quietly, "but not as much as Arcadia Tower." She then turned to face the white tower, half-covered in ivy, that rose up from the main set of hospital buildings to the west of the Mental Institute. "There's something about that place that just…" She shivered.

"What goes on in there?" asked Danny curiously, as he turned round in his wheelchair to look at it. And he couldn't help but shiver upon looking at it too.

"That's where the hospital labs are located," was Alethea's reply. "All of the labs are there, and of course, the morgue too."

Danny didn't say another thing, as he was wheeled into the garden. He sighed, as he was moved there and saw patients and nurses doing their rounds around the paths that passed roses and flowers of all kinds.

A white butterfly flitted past him, joined by two others. They danced in front of him before moving towards one of the flowers, where they flitted about, almost as if they were fighting over who got to land on the flower and then they went their separate ways. He watched as each one landed on a separate flower and then rested there for a while, before flitting up and flying off together.

"They say that if the first butterfly you see in the year is a white one, you will have good luck all year round," Alethea told Danny.

"Yeah?" exclaimed Danny in genuine interest. "I could sure need some good luck."

Danny then thought of the last year and what he had gone through. Fighting a crazed cafeteria woman, a technology-obsessed ghost and of course, Vlad and Valerie and Skulker… On top of that, he kept getting stick from Dash and Lancer, both of whom seemed to have it in for him. And… he shivered, his breath becoming a mist in front of him.

"_Ghost eater_."

"You say something?" asked Danny.

"I'm sorry?" asked Alethea.

"Did you say something?" asked Danny.

"Nope," was Alethea's reply and she sounded very sincere.

That phrase, Ghost Eater, sounded very familiar to him. It was the same thing he thought he heard Alex say in his dream. And now that he thought about it, the masked man he had fought two months ago, had said something about eating his ghost side. Was that man a Ghost Eater? And who said it just then, a few seconds ago? He wanted to know. Who spoke to him, calling him a Ghost Eater?

Danny shifted around in the wheelchair, looking around him but there was no one around for ages.  
"You sure?" he asked her, but now that he thought about it, it certainly didn't sound like her voice. "I could have sworn someone said something."

"Really?" said Alethea, sounding as if she had just stumbled on something very interesting.

That very tone in her voice suddenly made Danny realise that he had just jeopardised his chances of going home early.  
"No, it's not what you think!" he shouted suddenly. "I really did hear someone say something. I didn't imagine it! I'm not going funny in the head, I swear!"

"I'm sure you're not," said Alethea calmly, in the tone adopted for those you normally reserve for those you think are crazy. She looked around her and then wondered whether it was the air that was making him act up like this. "I think it's time we go in," she said, as she turned him round and pushed him back in the direction of the hospital.

"Holy Crab Patties!" cried an old man, as he wandered straight towards them. He had fashioned his belt into some strange device, with metallic wires stretched out from the belt, making him look like some deformed half-spider, half-man. "They want to can our corn," the old man screamed. "Corn should grow free in the soil or rot in the soil, not in tin cans! Can't you see? The Judges won't like this one bit. No! No! They won't like this!"

Suddenly, a few nurses rushed up to the old man and grabbed him.

Danny watched as the nurses subdued the old man.

"That's Blind Gerald," whispered Alethea into Danny's ear. "You needn't worry about him. He's mostly harmless."

Yet, there was something about Blind Gerald's voice that seemed familiar to Danny. He could have sworn that he heard that voice from somewhere before, but where could he have?  
"Do I have to stay here long?" asked Danny curiously.

"I'm sure you won't," replied Alethea with a friendly smile on her lips. "Now, let's get you back inside." She wheeled him back towards the Milne Wing of the Hospital.

And Dr. Fordyce watched from an opening in the hedge through his mirrored sunglasses, with a wide smile on his lazy face.


	3. Chapter 3: By the Way

Author's Note: Here's where some other authors I've seen would apologise for the lateness of the next chapter. I am not those other authors. If it's late, it's late. I will, however, apologise for the shortness of this chapter. It's just far too short, even for a short story. I shall make it up to you on the next chapter. I promise!

P.S. Anyway, here is the latest chapter. I'm getting a bit suspicious about the number of people reading this story. There are people reading it, right? Other than the three people that have already reviewed it, that is... If not, well, I guess I might just stop wasting my time on this fanfic and start work on a new project. No point in keeping alive something that no one reads...

**Chapter Three: By the Way**

Sam suddenly woke up with a start, sitting up in her bed, to find herself in a cold sweat.

Something was wrong. She didn't know why she felt that something was wrong, but she just did. It was almost as if… As if what? Sam couldn't be sure. All she knew was that she felt as if something terrible had just happened, but she couldn't be sure as to why she felt like that. It was almost as if there was something in the air, something in the way her clock sat there so quietly on her bedside table, something in the way that the darkness of the night settled in the room and something about the way the air seemed so unnaturally still.

It was almost like the way Danny could sense ghosts.

Danny.

Sam didn't know why she had suddenly thought of Danny like that. It was strange how she thought of Danny in that way. It was almost as if… Her thoughts suddenly trailed off, as sudden realisation dawned on her.  
"No!" she exclaimed. "Danny!"

* * *

Tucker suddenly woke up with a start, sitting up in his bed, to find himself in a cold sweat. 

It was strange now that he thought about it. He had had a strange dream about Danny. No, strange wasn't the right word. Chilling was the word for it. It was an unsettling dream… No, a nightmare.. It was a chilling nightmare that Tucker never wanted to see become a reality. Never would he want to see Danny sealed away in a coffin, never to return again… No, he'd never want to see that.

Suddenly, his PDA started beeping, almost as if it was agreeing with his very thoughts.

Tucker reached out to grab it from the bedside table.

* * *

All his dreams seemed so real. 

Were they real?

Danny couldn't be sure, as he lay there in his bed underneath the sheets, his head resting on the soft pillow, staring up at the white ceiling of the Dorm Room as a sliver of sunlight streamed through the partially closed curtains to land on his face. All he knew was that in the night, he had gone to sleep in the hospital bed, listening to the eerie silence that seemed to smother him.

Now he was in the Dorm Room of Streete Court High.

The raven-haired youth sat up and looked around him. The room was exactly as he had left it before awakening to find himself in Roslyn Hospital. His posters lined the walls here and there, and propped up against the wall beside the radiator was the guitar that Alex had found for him, still there with its black shoulder strap hanging limply beside it. There was no doubt about it. He was back in Streete Court High.

Yet he was convinced that this school was the dream and that the hospital was reality. Was he wrong or was he merely dreaming again? Which was the dream? The hospital or the school? Was it possible that they were both dreams and that he was in some never-ending coma, possibly the result of the accident in his parents' laboratory? Perhaps he hadn't become a half-ghost after all. Perhaps he was still one hundred percent human, but what would that mean for him? That he wasn't special or that he wasn't a freak?

Suddenly, the alarm clock on his bedside table suddenly started beeping viciously, as its digital face proclaimed the time to be seven o'clock. If he was to be ready in time for breakfast, he had to get up and get washed and dressed in school uniform.

Thoughts of reality and dreams suddenly dissipated.

Hunger grew in his stomach and it was the only thought he had in his mind. It drove him into a blur, as he washed and got dressed before rushing down towards the Dining Hall.

"Danny!" greeted Alex, as he stepped back to narrowly avoid being crashed into by Danny. "How're you? Sleep well?"

"Sure did," was Danny's reply. "I'm starving."

"Famished, huh?" laughed Alex, as he turned to look momentarily at the queue of students waiting to enter the Dining Hall. "Well, you're in luck. Breakfast's about the only time when you can eat loads and get away with it."

And Alex sure didn't lie. Danny found himself eating truckloads. It was a big hearty breakfast that contrasted greatly to the meek tasting stuff he had eaten the last night only in quantity. Eggs, bacon, pancakes, cereal, all washed down with the blandest-tasting orange juice he had ever found himself drinking. He could tell that he would have to get a taste for the food that was served here, which tasted suspiciously of nothing.

"I guess you weren't kidding when you said you were starving," commented Alex, as he dabbed away some milk from the side of his lips.

"Certainly wasn't," was Danny's abrupt reply. He wanted to lean back slightly, but seeing as he was sitting on a bench and not in a chair, that proved to be something he wouldn't do. "Hey," he said, as he glanced up at the clock that hung above the door, "isn't it a bit early for classes?"

Alex nodded.  
"It certainly is," he agreed with Danny. "It's just in time for an Assembly, though."

The School Assembly was held in the room above, which was a grand chapel with gold gilt and wooden floors and great wooden pews. Great stain-glass windows lined the walls next to ornate pillars that stood against the walls as if to keep them up. It was evident that much money had been spent on this vast, ornate chapel, the great huge golden cross that stood at the altar at the far end, and the five wooden seats that sat at the back of the chapel, each with a Latin inscription marked on it to identify who sat in it.

And seated at the vast organ to one side of the chapel was one of the teachers, dressed in the black gown associated with teachers, waiting patiently at the keyboard.

"I'm not really…" began Danny and then trailed off.

"That's okay," said Alex, "nor am I."

Suddenly, the music teacher began playing on the organ. It was one of those medieval pieces that sounded altogether menacing and he played it so loudly that the floor seemed to shake. It was almost as if he was launching a musical assault against the pupils, shouting at them through organ music, menacing them through music and all the pupils stood in response to the great cacophonous melody that echoed around them and seemed to want to shake the glass out of the windows.

* * *

"Come on, Tuck'," called out Sam, as she waited at his door, tapping one foot impatiently on the step. She looked at the watch on her wrist and then looked back up at the wooden door, staring at it as if willing to open. "What is taking him so long?" she wondered out loud. She then waited a little longer. 

There was still no Tucker.

What was taking the nerdy geek so long? It wasn't as if Tucker had any makeup to put on and he had most of his stuff in his backpack anyway.

Sam banged on the door.  
"Tucker!" she shouted. "Would you get a move on?"

Yet she wasn't angry. Sam couldn't be angry. She was far too afraid to be angry. It was the dream she had woken up from in the morning. The dream was so vivid. It had been so… No, it wasn't a dream. It was more of a nightmare than a dream and as every second passed, the nightmare seemed more vivid, as if it was clawing its way into the world of reality, to make itself real and true.

Danny was in trouble. She could feel it. There was no doubt in her mind. One of her best friends was in trouble and needed their help and if someone didn't hurry up, by the time they got to him, it would be too late.  
"Tucker!" screamed Sam. "Get a move on!"

* * *

The organ music stopped as all the teachers left the Great Chapel. 

Soon after, the pupils filed out of the two double doors of the Great Chapel and amongst them were Danny and Alex.

"Reverend Fordyce tends to be obsessed with death," explained Alex, as they walked out of the Chapel. "I don't remember any of his Sermons being about anything else." He smiled. "So, what do you have first?"

"Biology 1," was Danny's reply, after he picked his timetable out of his pocket.

Alex laughed.  
"You mind if I take a look at that?" he asked.

"No."

Alex laughed again, as he took a look at the timetable.  
"Looks like we have all the same classes," he told Danny. "Cool." He then slapped a hand against Danny's back as he said, "Come on! The lab's this way."

A shiver ran down Danny's spine, as his breath became mist like as if from extreme cold. He looked around him, as the coldness enveloped him like a blanket of ice cold air. That shiver, that coldness, was a sign of a nearby ghost.

"Say, Danny, is something wrong?" asked Alex curiously.

"No," was Danny's slow, drawn out and reluctant reply. "Nothing's wrong."

"Hey, what's that smell?" exclaimed Alex curiously, as he sniffed the air. "It smells like…"

Suddenly, a terrifying screaming of sirens sheared through the silence, as thick black smoke poured out from up ahead. The noise of the sirens was loud and seemed as if it was powerful enough to cause their skulls to cave in, so loud was it. Even covering their ears was not enough to muffle the sound of the cacophony of sirens that screamed at them, and soon the students began to join in on the screaming, their voices echoing through the corridor.

And up ahead was a burning figure that seemed aflame with apparently no legs and a mist-like tail in their place…

* * *

Zeross would have risen from his chair, were he not practically tied down to it by the wires that ran from it and into his body and the ivy that now wrapped around his purple robes, entwining the strands of his grey beard and hair.  
"What is happening?" cried out Zeross in disbelief. "Why can't I see the Image of the Dragon King anymore?" 

"Dragon King, sir?" exclaimed O'Donnell with a raised eyebrow.

For a while, there was no reply from Zeross, as if he was thinking carefully about what he had said.  
"_Shou Ge Wang_, I meant to say," he corrected himself carefully, pronouncing every syllable slowly and deliberately. "Guardian of the Threshold, Servant of the God of War, Servant of the Great Judge, he who walks in the Realms of the Living and the Dead."

"Ah, I see. _Shou Ge Wang_," said O'Donnell with a slow nod of his head. "It would seem you get those names mixed up quite a lot."

"A ghost has broken through the firewalls, sir," came the reply from below.

A horrified expression spread across Zeross' face.  
"This will not do," he said sternly with a shake of his old, grey head. "The _Shou Ge Wang_'s image is lost from me. This ghost, this ghost that dares to penetrate the firewall, how come its personality and very essence were not fragmented by the Sacred Flames?"

"Something is wrong here," agreed O'Donnell with a slow nod of his head. "Though the flames are digital now, the ghosts still can't have gotten through. After all, ghosts are nothing more than electromagnetic disturbances, as you may know _Sifu_. A digital firewall would be no different from a real wall of flames in preventing the ghost from getting through into the Artificial World. In fact, a digital firewall should be even more effective as it would disrupt the ghost's very essence and rip it apart."

Zeross didn't make a sound, as he looked at the different screens in front of him.  
"Have that ghost removed," he called out sternly to the technicians. "If the ghost interacts with the _Shou Ge Wang_, there is a good chance he might awaken from the drug-induced stupor we put him in."

"No!" shouted O'Donnell suddenly, as a sudden flash of inspiration hit him. "Leave the ghost alone! Let him interact with the _Shou Ge Wang_."

"Have you gone mad, O'Donnell?" protested Zeross in horror. "You know that as long as the _Shou Ge Wang_ is conscious our Fate Determination Machine can never work."

O'Donnell smiled wolfishly.  
"Ah, yes _Sifu_, but may I remind you of the often quoted proverb?" was O'Donnell's reply. "Keep your friends close, they say, but keep your enemies closer."

Zeross didn't respond, as he turned over O'Donnell's words in his mind. Then he nodded his head, making approving sounds as he did so.  
"Yes, yes, you're quite right," he agreed. "Quite right, indeed. We must know more about this young _Shou Ge Wang_ and what he is capable of doing." He remained quiet for a while and then said, "Now we shall see why _Yen Lo Wang_ chose the boy to be _Shou Ge Wang_." He then raised his eyes up towards the concave mirror set high above him. "Yes, now we shall see the true power of this _Shou Ge Wang_."

* * *

Danny peered round the corner and then ducked back. The ghost was a strange entity that Danny had never seen the likes of before. Its head was like an upside-down bucket and flames with eyes and a mouth cut out of the metal. Fires raged within its head making the eyes and the mouth glow a bright red and the bottom half of its body was like that of a genie's, only made with smoke instead of anything supernatural and smoke billowed out of its right arm, which was like a flamethrower. 

He knew he had to fight against this strange fire ghost with a burning head and a right arm like a flamethrower. Yet, he could not do it in this human form. No, he had to '_go ghost'_, as he liked to call it. If he concentrated enough, he would be able to transform into his ghostly, white-haired alter-ego with the glowing green eyes and the abilities of a ghost. Only in that form, would he be capable of fighting this fiery apparition.

There was no way to really explain how he did it. The transformation just happened, like the way you just happen to be able to move your arm without you even thinking about how to do it. Perhaps, if someone studied him, they'd be able to find out how he was able to transform, but Danny certainly wouldn't allow that to happen.

In a flash, Danny's hair became snow white and his eyes glowed a ghostly green. His school uniform was replaced with a black suit with gloves and belt and boots that were as white as his hair. He had transformed fully into his ghost form.

Quickly, Danny grabbed the nearest fire extinguisher.  
"All right!" shouted Danny, as he stepped out from round the corner to face the fiery ghost that had sent the students and staff fleeing. "It's time for you to cool it!" He then flung the extinguisher into the air, before firing an energy bolt straight at it, which penetrated the metal and caused an explosion that sent foam flying through the air to splatter on the fires and extinguish them.

"_Feng Huang_!" roared the fire ghost from underneath the foam. It roared and then burst into flames that burnt away the foam, before sending a jet of flames flying towards Danny from its flamethrower-like arm. "_Shou Ge Wang_!"

Danny became intangible and in doing so became invisible and insubstantial, allowing the flames to go straight through his body. He then flew around the plume of flames and his hand started to glow with an ethereal green, before he fired a beam of green ghostly energy from said hand, aiming it straight at the fire ghost.

The beam of energy struck the fire ghost in the chest, sending him flying backwards.

"Ha!" cried out Danny triumphantly and then got a face full of flames.

"_Feng Huang_!" cried out the fire ghost, as it floated back to its feet. "_Shou Ge Wang_!"

"Okay," said Danny, as he got back up to his own feet. "So I underestimated you. Big deal." He then spread his arms outwards, forming a plane shield of ectoplasmic energy that deflected the fire ghost's flames and sending them flying back towards the ghost.

Big mistake. The flames didn't seem to do any harm to the fire ghost. In fact, it seemed to make the ghost seem bigger than he was before.

There was a roar from the Fire Ghost, before it smashed both hands down on the floor. The wooden floor burst into flames and a wave of flames rushed straight along towards it, the tips of the flames reaching high enough to scorch the ceiling above. And they left a charred trail of wood in their wake, as they rushed towards Danny like a tidal wave of flames.

Danny sighed, as he became intangible again, allowing the flames to pass straight through him without harming him. It didn't seem as if this Fire Ghost was intelligent enough to realise that its attempts to harm him were completely futile. Well, that didn't matter. All that mattered was that defeating the Fire Ghost before it could harm anyone and then and capture it in… And his concentration lapsed, allowing the Fire Ghost to get the better of him.

With a roar, the Fire Ghost rushed straight at Danny and crashed straight into him. It pinned him down to the wooden floor, his flames flickering around him violently and burning into the young white-haired half-ghost.  
"_Shou Ge Wang_!" roared the Fire Ghost. "_Feng Huang_!"

"Get off of me!" cried Danny, before he concentrated and let rip with a blast of ghostly energy that flung the Fire Ghost off of him.

He may not have had the Fenton Thermos at hand, but Danny was sure that he could beat this Fire Ghost somehow. He had to. There was no other choice, no other option open to him. He had to find a way to defeat the Fire Ghost or face the severe, burning hot consequences.

Yet how was he to do it?

"Me am _Feng Huang_!" screamed the Fire Ghost again, before his right arm turned into a sword of fiery flames that flickered and danced, before becoming as solid as the metal. And it continued to glow a bright, fiery red, as if it was a red hot iron poker with tiny wisps of white smoke curling off its blade like tiny little ghosts attempting to escape a fiery inferno. "Must eat," it groaned, before it rushed straight towards Danny.

The white-haired Phantom split in half even before the fiery blade cut through him. He backed off and then reformed, joining together again with no break in his body as if he had never been divided into half. Danny then had to duck to avoid another swing of the blade of flames, before clenching his fist and letting ghostly energy accumulate in his right hand and then letting loose with the strongest upper-cut he could manage that flung the Fire Ghost's head back but seemed to do nothing else.

In fact, a smile had formed on the Fire Ghost's face and when it lowered its head to look at Danny, the white-haired phantom boy could clearly see the mouth full of metallic grille and the fires that burnt behind it, reminding him of a barbecue grill. And seconds later, fire billowed out from the mouth and engulfed Danny, hitting him and burning him.

Danny fell backwards, burnt and charred. He couldn't believe that he was unable to defeat this ghost.

In a sudden flash of realisation, Danny noticed that the corridor was charred and bits of it were now on fire and blazing merrily. If he was to continue fighting the Fire Ghost, it would have to be somewhere else, somewhere away from this building. He cursed himself for being so stupid and blind to what was happening around him. How could he have been so caught up in fighting the Fire Ghost that he forgot that the Ghost was practically burning the place down?

"Must eat," droned the Fire Ghost unintelligently. "Must eat _Shou Ge Wang_," it roared, before rushing straight towards Danny.

In a split second, Danny leapt out of the way.

His mind was in a jumble. He realised he had to do something or else the fight would end up destroying the entire school. There was no doubt about it. He had to lead the Fire Ghost out of the school, hoping that it would cause as little damage as possible as it followed him. But where could he fight it? Where was the least likely place of someone being harmed?

Suddenly, a great burst of inspiration hit Danny as he remembered what was out back.  
"Hey, ugly!" called out Danny and then made a face at the Fire Ghost. "What's up with that ugly spot on your head? Oh! I'm sorry. It's your face!" He then laughed for extra effect and took off down the corridor, flying down it as fast as he could.

"_Shou Ge Wang_!" roared the Fire Ghost, before it flew off after Danny.

Good, thought Danny, as he turned to see the Fire Ghost chasing after him. Now all he had to do was head out towards the lake out back. If he could dunk the Fire Ghost into it, he could extinguish it for sure. There was no way that the Ghost would be able to boil the lake's water off. Surely that lake would be able to extinguish it for sure? Right?

* * *

"What do you mean he's been transferred?" protested Sam angrily, as she stood at the receptionist's desk. 

The receptionist just glared back at Sam as angrily as the Goth girl.  
"Daniel Fenton has been transferred to the Maudsley Institute on Dr. Fordyce's orders," repeated the receptionist for the fifth time, calmly and sternly. "He's been ordered into isolation and I'm afraid no one can see him now."

"But we're his friends," protested Tucker.

"Wait! Wait!" interrupted Sam suddenly. "You're telling me that this Fordyce has got our Danny locked up in the mental institute?" she asked angrily, upon remembering being told about the Maudsley Institute opposite the main hospital building. "What is wrong with you people? Danny's not mad. He doesn't need psychiatric help."

The receptionist shook her head.  
"I'm afraid I can't tell you why Dr. Fordyce asked for Danny to be isolated," she told Sam. "Doctor-patient confidentiality," she then said, as if it was the only explanation that was needed. "Now if you would please be so kind as to leave the premises?" asked the receptionist.

"We're not leaving until we get to see Danny," protested Sam.

"Whoa, Sam, calm down," called out Tucker, upon realising how aggressive Sam was getting. He then said to the receptionist, as he started tugging on Sam, "I'm sorry about that, really. Come on, Sam, let's get going."

"No!" cried Sam, as she shrugged free from Tucker's grip. "I'm going to find out where Danny is and I'm going to see him now." She then walked back round to behind the desk.

"Hey! You can't come back behind here!" protested the receptionist.

"Just watch me," retorted Sam.

"Security!" cried out the receptionist. "Security!"

* * *

The door splintered into a myriad of toothpick-sized fragments that scattered through the air and as Danny sailed through the air, after having been thrown through said wooden door, he wished he had been quicker at making himself intangible. It certainly would have saved him from the pain of being thrown through such a thick door and as he landed on the stone floor, skidding across the uneven tiles, weeds growing from their cracks, he couldn't help but think that he had done something wrong. 

The Fire Ghost roared, as it clawed its way through the broken doorway and floated towards Danny. Its eyes glowed with a fiery hatred, as flames burnt in its open mouth and a thick smoke started belching out of its grille-like mouth.  
"Burn! Burn! Burn!" chanted the Fire Ghost, as the smoke started to cloak its body. "Burn everything!"

It then inhaled deeply, or apparently inhaled deeply, before spitting out a ball of flames straight at Danny.

The half-ghost became intangible this time round and avoided being hit by what appeared to be flaming ectoplasm.  
"Not this time round, hothead," said Danny, as he rushed straight at the Fire Ghost. He then grabbed the smoke-like tail of the Fire Ghost that it had and pulled with all his might, as he spun round, hoping that he'd be able to spin the Fire Ghost around him like an Olympic athlete does with the Hammer in the Field Events.

With his supernatural strength, Danny managed to pick the Fire Ghost and spin him round, faster and faster. All he needed to do was get some momentum going before letting go and sending the Fire Ghost flying towards the lake.

"Off you go!" cried Danny, as with one last spin, he let go and sent the Fire Ghost flying through the air.

Yet even that was not enough. Danny knew he couldn't take chances, so he leapt into the air and flew after the Fire Ghost. He tried to catch up with the Fire Ghost and as he did so, he charged up some ghostly energy in his hands, cupping his hands in the style that was so popular amongst those Japanese Manga characters that could fire blasts of energy from their hands. It was the only way to ensure the charge of the blast would be powerful enough. It was the only way.

Danny began counting calmly under his breath, as the Fire Ghost turned round in the air to look at him. He knew that his fiery opponent would try to counteract, but he had to wait. He had to keep back. There was only a slim window of opportunity and he couldn't blow it by firing his energy blast at the Fire Ghost too early, or too late for that matter.

"Eat!" screamed the Fire Ghost, as it aimed its flamethrower-like arm at Danny. "Must eat _Shou Ge Wang_!"

"Eat this!" cried Danny, as he let rip with a powerful blast of ectoplasmic energy that tore through the air and smashed into the Fire Ghost with such force that it sent it flying down towards the watery surface of the lake.

With a scream, the Fire Ghost crashed into the water. There was a terrible screaming as the water bubbled and steam rose from the mirrored surface of the lake. The Fire Ghost tried to claw its way out, but it was as if the water was gluing him down, weighing him down, and all it could do was scream as its body started to fragment and its fires were quenched with the pure, cool water of the lake, leaving oily traces of its ectoplasm floating in the water like individual fragmented sheets of ice.

It all made Danny shiver. He had never seen a ghost do that before. It was almost as if he had killed the ghost, if such a thing were possible.  
"Pleasant," he said sarcastically, before turning round to face the school and then looking back down to the oily remains of the Fire Ghost. He then sighed and flew away, back towards the school.

* * *

Zeross watched the image on the mirror calmly, as he sat in his now modified wheelchair that looked as if someone had attempted to convert it into a tank.  
"It would seem that that ghost was an idiot fragment of one of the Four Scared Animals, _Feng Huang_," he commented calmly, as he watched the oily ectoplasm float on the water and shine like oil. "The _Shou Ge Wang_ certainly took care of that fragment." 

"Ghost fragments are very annoying," agreed O'Donnell with a silent nod of his head.

"Are you kidding me?" exclaimed Fordyce, as he walked into the darkened room. He removed his hair, or rather his toupee, from his head as he approached Zeross and O'Donnell. "They're wonderful things! I can consume them without any consequences!"

O'Donnell waved one of his hands and instantaneously light flooded the room.

It revealed the great large machine in front of them in all its glory. The machine was a strange one with eight spider-like metallic legs sticking out of its bottom to stab into the ground. Each of these were entwined in eight wires that wrapped around the legs to connect to the bottom of one of eight glass columns that rose upwards, filled with bubbling water. These joined to a giant glass sphere in which the water was illuminated by the sparks coming from eight prongs near the top that made the water bubble.

All of this was illuminated by the concave mirror that sat on top of this machinery, which was mounted on what looked like giant, dark, metallic shoulder pads that capped the top of the glass sphere. Attached to this great metallic cap were two strange things like rockets with four spikes on one end to form something like a claw and these spun round the machine in a slow, regular manner.

Fordyce scratched his head, his fingers running across the green of the four leaf clover that was tattooed on his bald scalp and across the Chinese character tattooed in its middle in red ink. He sighed in relief, as his fingers ran across the scalp, as his wig had a very rough and itchy underneath to it that served to do nothing but irritate his bald head.  
"So how is the old girl going?" asked Fordyce curiously.

"The Fate Determination Machine is still not running at full capacity," stated Zeross grimly.

"Can't be," protested Fordyce with a shake of his bald head, as the light from the glaring white fluorescent bulbs above them reflected off his mirrored sunglasses. "I put that Fenton kid under quicker than you could skin a cat. There ain't no way he could interfere with the machine now."

"I'd have to agree with you on that account," said O'Donnell reluctantly with a nod of his head. "Perhaps the problem lies elsewhere, _Sifu_." He then smiled, as he looked up at the concave mirror and remembered the sight of the oily traces of ectoplasm, the remnants of the Fire Ghost, floating on the water of the lake in the Artificial World they had created in Danny's mind. "The ghosts we're using just aren't powerful enough for our purposes. What we need is a more powerful ghost… the Life Ghost."

O'Donnell then clapped his hands and the lights went off again, to allow them to see what was in the concave mirror.  
"See those traces of ectoplasm?" asked O'Donnell. "They came from a ghost fragment, an idiot fragment of Feng Huang, the Fiery Phoenix God of the South. If we can create a new ghost from pieces of all the Four Sacred Animals, we'd be able to create a powerful new ghost that will give the Fate Determination Machine the power we need."

"Not again with your stupid Life Ghost," drawled Fordyce in an unimpressed manner. "If there ain't a single day you don't go on 'bout that stupid project of yours, you can glaze my butt cheeks and call me Susan. Look, I ain't saying that it ain't worth it but I ain't sure as Heck letting you getting your hands on that ectoplasm, 'specially not for some damned Ghost you're makin'!" He then turned to Zeross. "_Sifu_, gimme that ghost's remains. I need ghosts! I live off of 'em and I certainly as sure as Heck can't live wit'out them."

Zeross sighed.  
"No, O'Donnell is right," said the old man sternly. "I shall approve the Life Ghost Project. We need a powerful ghost to power the Fate Determination Machine. We need the Life Ghost. Our plans need a fully functioning Fate Determination Machine." He smiled at the very thought of it, as he pressed a button and his wheelchair turned round to face Fordyce.

The bald doctor was suddenly glad of the way his sunglasses obscured his eyes, making it difficult for anyone to see his emotions. He was glad it prevented anyone or anything from fixing on his soul and eating it, like he had eaten many ghosts before.

"Fordyce," said Zeross sternly and then left it at that before saying, "Do you or do you not want to take control away from the _Shi Ti'en Yen Wang_, the Ten Lords of Death and place it in our hands?"

There was silence from Fordyce.

"I thought that as much," said Zeross in a smug manner. "Now go and get us a sample of the Fire Ghost's ectoplasm, and don't you dare consume a single drop."

"And don't forget to send the Shou Ge Wang up to my labs," added O'Donnell. "We need a small genetic sample from young Daniel Fenton."


	4. Chapter 4: Dreaming my Dreams

Author's Note: Some of you may have noticed that the formatting of my stories isn't the same as it used to be. This is because switched to a different system, a system that is less user-friendly than the old system, a system that requires me to make the same changes over and over again... And the worst thing is, I don't know how to complain.  
Ah, well it doesn't matter. I hope you enjoy reading this chapter; as promised it is far longer than the last pathetic attempt.  
P.S. Some of you have asked me of the meanings of a few non-English phrases that I've used in the story. Well, please forgive me for not explaining the meaning of _Shou Ge Wang_ to you just yet (as you'll find out later in the story). However, I shall explain the meaning of the Latin motto, _Veritas sine timore_, which happened to be the motto of my old school. The phrase means 'Truth without Fear'.

**Chapter Four: Dreaming my Dreams**

Sam peered out from behind the bushes quietly.

When the receptionist had called Security, Sam had no idea that she would soon be surrounded by armed security guards, each holding a menacing weapon. She had never thought they would be chased out of the hospital by armed guards that seemed as willing to shoot them as a psychotic homicidal maniac. No, she had never expected them to be fully armed. It certainly hadn't been easy to avoid them, as there had been many of them, far more than a normal hospital. It seemed to her almost as if the hospital had its own private army at its disposal. No matter where they turned, it seemed as if these security guards were everywhere.

"There's way too many guards here," murmured Sam to Tucker, as she peered past the leaves of the bushes. "I wonder why there's so many? How can the hospital afford them all?"

"Maybe they've got a rich sponsor or something," said Tucker dismissively, as he looked around him. "Does it really matter?"

Sam shook her head, but not in response to Tucker's question.  
"It doesn't make any sense," she said sternly. "How come they're wasting so much money on security when they should be spending it on the patients and on hospital equipment?" She just couldn't understand it. "We've got to get Danny out of here." She didn't like the feel of the place, not least because of the presence of the nearby Maudsley Institute.

"Agreed," replied Tucker with a nod of his head. "But how?"

Silence followed Tucker's question, even though Sam really wanted to answer. She had no idea herself.  
"I'll get back to you on that one," was her reply.

* * *

Danny lay on the hospital bed, as still as stone, strapped down by white leather belts with wires attached to his forehead and his limbs. He was hooked up to a machine that monitored his heart rate and another his breathing and another that monitored his brain patterns. These had been attached to him ever since Dr. Fordyce had put him under with a powerful anaesthetic he had managed to sneak out from under the anaesthetist's nose, and he had been kept unconscious ever since being transferred to Maudsley.

Everything was in darkness and it seemed to make even the lights of the monitors and hospital equipment dim. What little light there as seemed suffocated and quenched in the darkness. It didn't suggest the strength of the night darkness, though. All this seemed to point towards a lack of light, as if even light did not dare to enter this place, this institute for the mentally insane.

The door opened and a sharp light flooded into the darkened room from outside.

Two men walked in and reached up to take something down from the doorway, before stepping aside.

Dr. Fordyce smiled, as he peered into the room. He walked in, one hand in his pocket, making his way towards Danny with that inane smile on his lips.  
"How you doing, kid?" chuckled Fordyce, as he stopped by Danny's side. "You sleeping well?" The smile on his lips widened. "Good," he said, as he brought out a slip of yellow paper with a Chinese incantation written on it in red ink. "That's good to hear," he said, as he pressed the piece of paper against Danny's forehead, sticking the top of it to him.

He then turned to face the two security guards that stood outside.  
"Well, what in tarnation are you two waiting for?" he shouted at them. "Get in here and help me move this boy. I can't possibly move him to Arcadia Tower by myself, now can I?" He sighed, as he shook his head. "I swear, you two are as dumb as dried cowpats!"

"Dr. Fordyce, sir!" cried out a security guard, as he pushed past the two standing at the doorway. "Dr. Fordyce, sir! I'm so glad I've found you!"

A frown appeared on Dr. Fordyce's face.  
"What is it now?" he asked irritably.

"Blind Gerald's escaped, sir."

"Blind Gerald?" exclaimed Fordyce in astonishment and there seemed to be a tinge of fear in his voice. He then looked towards Danny and then towards the three security guards. On the one hand, he knew that Blind Gerald was very dangerous and needed to be contained. On the other hand, he didn't want to leave young Daniel Fenton in the Institute just in case Blind Gerald should come across him. "Find him! Quick! All of you! Get out and find that blind fool!"

"But what about the patient, sir?" asked one of the security guards.

"He ain't going nowhere," was Fordyce's reply, " as long as you put the Ba Gua back up."

* * *

There was a wooden booth in front of them, standing next to a grand concrete pillar. There was a security guard asleep inside the wooden booth within this grand hall of marble with staircases on the wall to the left and the wall to the right. They both went up, round to the wall behind them, where they joined and then back up again to the floor above and near the base of each staircase was a large marble statue of someone looking like a Greek or Roman statesman, staring emotionlessly and passively out at no one and nothing in particular.

"Come on," whispered Sam, as she looked towards the sleeping security guard, "and be quiet."

"Right," agreed Tucker, far too loudly for Sam's tastes.

"I think he headed towards the cemetery, sir."

"Shoot!" cursed Dr. Fordyce, as he ran down the marble stairs with the security guards following him closely. "Can't you morons do anything right? If I've told you once, I've told you a million times, never let those idiot colleagues of mine let Blind Gerald out." He stopped at the foot of the stairs, to glare back at the security guards whom had been doing their best to keep up with him. "Well? Hurry up? I've seen stone tortoises move faster than you lame cows. Get a move on!" He then rushed past the statue, stormed across the tiled floor burst through the doors, followed closely by the parade of security guards.

A small wooden door underneath the staircase opened ever so slightly.

Sam peered out from the crack and looked towards the booth with the light on and the security guard seated in it, apparently still asleep. She waited awhile, looking towards the security guard, afraid that he might awaken any time soon. Yet he didn't seem to and the longer she watched, the surer she became that he was fast asleep. She turned round.  
"Come on, Tuck'," she whispered to him. She then thought for a while and then added urgently through clenched teeth, "And don't say a word."

The black-haired girl, dressed in black, a perfect colour for sneaking through a darkened building, snuck quietly out of the cupboard under the watchful gaze of the two marble statues and the dusty, oil paintings of Professor Zeross that glared at her angrily from their golden frames. She looked around her carefully and then focused on Tucker, signalling for him to be quiet in closing the cupboard door. Then with one quiet wave of her hand, she signalled for him to follow her and climbed the marble stairs quietly.

And Tucker was quiet, for a fear had gripped him, exacerbated by the décor of the Maudsley Institute and the sightless eyes that stared at him and seemed to stare through his still living flesh and into his soul. Fear made him long to be closer to Sam, closer to her and to her warmth and to be comforted by her presence. He didn't want to be alone in the Maudsley Institute, this former Manor, that had made his hair stand on end just from looking at it from a distance and had given him goosebumps even in the bright light of the day.

"Man, this place gives me the creeps," whispered Tucker, as he followed Sam up the marble staircase.

"Tuck', zip it," hissed Sam through clenched teeth. She shivered. Yes, she felt exactly the same way as Tucker did, but she didn't want to admit it. She didn't want to admit the fear that welled up in her heart and seemed to make her blood curdle in her veins. "Now come on," she said sternly, "and do as I do." She continued up the staircase and when she reached the landing next to the highly mullioned window, she ducked ducked underneath it, afraid someone outside would see them.

There was something about this very hospital and its adjacent mental institute that made Sam fear for her life, as she snuck through it. She didn't know why, but she had this irrational fear that if they were ever caught, they would be taken to some laboratory and experimented on. It was very irrational, and Sam mentally told herself that it was so. But was it really so irrational? Perhaps there was a reason as to why she had this fear and why this fear seemed to manifest itself in Tucker as well. She looked behind her and though it was quite dark, lit only by light bulbs within the dirty, dust-covered glass shells of old oil lamps, she could see the fear on Tucker's face reasonably well.

Maybe there was a good reason to fear the Maudsley Institute. It could even be possible that the people that came to this place were never mad to start off with, but had slowly cracked and gone insane within the very walls of this old derelict. Sam wondered and then she feared. She feared for Danny and what could happen to him and what might have happened to him already in this insane asylum. Sam feared that by the time they found him, Danny would be a shell of his former self or worse.

Perhaps that was why Samantha Mason quickened her pace, or perhaps it was merely just because of an irrational fear. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that she felt as if she was being watched, watched by those sightless eyes that stared out from the paintings and those sightless eyes that stared out from the statues and marble busts. Maybe it was none of these things. Maybe it was all of them. Whatever the reason, not even Sam herself knew.

And he waited for Sam and Tucker to climb up the stairs and up on to the next floor. He waited for them to disappear out of sight, so that they would not see him.

The security guard slowly slid out from his chair, to land with a heavy, lifeless thud on the marble floor.

The masked man walked out, with metallic fibrils coming out from his belt to scrape against the floor. There were no eyeholes in his mask and all that could be seen on it was the figure of a Chinese character, painted on in red ink. This was quite amazing, for he bent down, and with amazingly accurate precision for someone who couldn't see, he placed a strip of yellow paper squarely on the dead security guard's forehead.

The masked man lifted his head and then seemed to stare upwards sightlessly.

* * *

Sam looked down the corridor. It didn't seem like a part of the building with its grey carpet and a huge announcement board that hung from the ceiling, that announced the wrong time. No, in fact, it looked more like something of an airport than a mental institute or a hospital.

"Come on, this way," said Sam quietly.

"What? How'd you know?" protested Tucker. "I say we go that way," he said, and pointed back behind him, past the landing of the staircases and down towards an oaken corridor with a chequered linoleum floor.

Sam shook her head.  
"Nope, Danny's definitely this way," she said, as she pointed down the carpeted corridor. She then looked down at her makeshift compass, which was really an ordinary compass but with one of Danny's hairs attached to the pointer. "You've got to trust me on this, Tuck. When have ever I steered you wrong?"

"You mean, like the time you got rid of meat from the lunch menu?" retorted Tucker.

"This is not the time, Tucker!" cried Sam angrily. She sighed angrily, as she whirled back round. "Look," she said in an exasperated tone of voice, "just trust me on this, okay? I've got a… kind of Danny tracker. It can lead us to him. I know. I've tried it before, okay?"

Suddenly the two of them turned round simultaneously.

Standing at the top of the staircase was a man wearing a mask that completely covered his face, a mask without eyeholes, a mask with a Chinese word painted on it in red ink. From his belt were metallic fibrils, eight of them, giving him the look of some spider-human hybrid. And though he couldn't see, he turned round to look at them, or at least, it seemed as if he was looking at them through that solid mask of his.

Wordlessly, the masked man rose a small silver bell and rung it.

The masked man murmured something inaudible and then in response the sound of heavy footsteps suddenly followed, as if of people hopping up the stairs.

A few security guards trudged up the steps, their entire bodies seemingly stiff, strips of yellow paper covering their faces and their eyes, with a Chinese incantation written on it in red ink. None of them looked very agile and it seemed as if their legs were glued together, as all they did was hop with their limbs stiff and outstretched. It would have been quite comical, if they weren't quite so dead.

"_Jiangshi_," murmured Sam, "Chinese Vampires." She then turned to look down the corridor and then towards Tucker. "Let's get out of here!" she cried, before grabbing Tucker's arm and running away from the masked man.

The masked man raised a wooden sword, pointing it at the fleeing kids, before ringing his bell. In response, the undead security guards started hopping after Sam and Tucker.

Sam and Tucker rushed past doors that led into empty libraries with empty bookshelves and empty Carrels and empty tables. They ran underneath the great neon sign and past two elevators that seemed to be out of order, before rushing out into a large open staircase that seemed to stretch up endlessly above them.

"Aw, man!" whined Tucker.

Sam sighed angrily, before grabbing him and running up the stairs as fast as possible. She knew that the stairs would put some distance between the masked man and his _Jiangshi_. That was what they needed, some distance, so they could have more undisturbed time in finding Danny in this Mental Institute. It was probably why she didn't say a word to Tucker. She wanted to conserve her strength for the dash up the seemingly endless flight of stairs.

Suddenly, Tucker tripped and he fell, his hand slipping from Sam's, and landed against the jagged wooden steps winding himself and bruising himself against the corners. He winced at the pain.

"Come on, get up Tucker!" called out Sam concernedly.

"Go on without me," said Tucker weakly.

Sam peered over the banisters to look further down the spiralling staircase and saw the _Jiangshi_ hopping up the stairs considerably fast, doing six steps at a time.  
"Don't be such an idiot," retorted Sam, as she rushed back to help Tucker back up to his feet. "We're doing this together. No one's going to be left behind. Besides, you can't have hurt yourself that badly. These steps are carpeted." She turned to look behind her and then said, "Now let's get going! Danny needs us."

As she turned back round, she couldn't help but wonder what kind of trouble Danny was in. Terrible thoughts entered her mind. Had the doctors here discovered that he was half-ghost? Were they experimenting on him right now?

Her mind was full of images of Danny in a glass tank, fluid illuminated green like in all those science fiction movies, with wires attached to him and air pumped in through an oxygen mask. Images of him on a cold, metallic table, being dissected couldn't help but fill her mind and cloud her mind, becoming the only thoughts that she could think about. They were all horrible images and she feared the worst for her raven-haired friend.

Ah, but she had to be strong. Yes, she had to be very strong and ignore those thoughts. What Danny needed now were his friends to rescue him from the terrible fate that Dr. Fordyce had condemned him to.

Sam bravely flung the thoughts out of her mind and ran alongside Tucker up the stairs.

It was a long, seemingly slow, tiring and terrifying trek up the stairs in the dim corridor lit only by a single light bulb. Their shadows elongated to their side, stretching up like dark figures, stalking them. Images of more _Jiangshi_ filled their mind and they expected to be cornered after every turn of the staircase, only to find the stretch of stairs before them as empty as the promises of being caught. And all could be heard was the loud stomping of feet, of the _Jiangshi_ leaping up the stairs as best as they could with their stiffened limbs, rigid with Rigor Mortis, and the scraping of the metallic fibrils that sprouted out from the belt of the Masked Man.

"This way," whispered Sam, as she turned off the staircase and on to a darkened corridor that stretched out before them a myriad of doors lining its walls like guardians.

They soon ran across a mesh fence built into the corridor with a padlocked mesh wire door in it. The fence had been painted a hideous blood red that severely clashed with the white walls of the corridor, lit only by small, bare light bulbs that hung from the ceiling uselessly like meat on a butcher's hook.

"How we going to get through there?" wondered Tucker out loud.

A smile spread across Sam's face, as she pulled out a Bobby pin from her hair.  
"Watch and learn, Tuck," she told him, "watch and learn." She grabbed the lock and inserted the pin in, slowly jimmying it around inside in an attempt to pick it.

And all the time, Tucker was looking at the lock and then back down the corridor. His fear, which had started from just looking at the outside of the Maudsley Institute, had grown to terrifying proportions. He could smell his own fear, hear it, see it and taste it in his own mouth. It clouded his mind. It clouded his judgement. It made him nearly wet his pants. Scratch that. He did wet his pants, which would explain why he could smell his own fear.

"What's that smell?" exclaimed Sam curiously.

"Smell? What smell?" replied Tucker, a great blazing red creeping across his face. Then there was an awkward silence, in which Tucker feared Sam would catch on. "Haven't you got the lock open yet?" he asked irritably.

"Touchy," responded Sam, without even realising that Tucker wasn't acting himself and neither was she. "There!" she exclaimed, as the lock snapped open. She flung the door open. "Get a move on, Tuck'," she said, before she ran through the doorway, compass in hand to determine Danny's location.

The compass was something of her own design, after she had done much research.

According to Chinese exorcists, you could easily tell if someone was possessed by holding a compass near them. A ghost would deflect the pointer of the compass. Thusly, Sam had taken a hair from Danny's head when he wasn't looking and constructed a compass of her own, with his hair wrapped around the compass pointer. The idea was simple; the compass would be constantly deflected, thanks to Danny's strand of hair and would thus mask the influence of the Earth's magnetic field. It ensured that the compass would never point to magnetic north because of the Earth's magnetic field. It would, instead, interact with electromagnetically with Danny if she got close and the pointer would swing towards him, guiding her towards the youth.

"In here!" exclaimed Sam, as she pointed towards a door with a four-leaf clover painted on its white surface and wire mesh covering it. She touched the door knob slowly, almost wary as if she feared it would burn and her fingers wrapped around it slowly, turning it slowly and opening the door slowly.

"Danny!" exclaimed Tucker, before rushing straight into the room. "Man, what have they got you on?"

Danny lay on the hospital bed, strapped down by white leather belts with wires attached to his forehead and his limbs. He was hooked up to a machine that monitored his heart rate and another his breathing and another that monitored his brain patterns. These had been attached to him ever since Dr. Fordyce had put him under with a powerful anaesthetic he had managed to sneak out from under the anaesthetist's nose.

"Don't worry, Danny, we've come to get you out of here," Sam told the raven-haired youth, but got no response from him. She flicked the light on and gasped.

Attached to Danny's forehead was a slip of yellow paper with a Chinese incantation written on it in red ink. It was a spell designed to keep a ghost in place. Normally, these could not be placed on ghosts and were instead placed on those that were possessed or the _Jiangshi_. It paralysed them and an unscrupulous exorcist could use them to control their paralysed victims.

A tiny silver bell suddenly rang.

Danny sat up.

"I must thank you for leading me to the _Shou Ge Wang_," gasped the Masked Man, as he stood at the doorway. "Fordyce certainly put a lot of masking on the boy. I couldn't get a lock on him, but somehow, you managed to do so." He chuckled, but it didn't sound like a chuckle. It was more like the sound of bubbling water. "To think, now I have the power of the _Shou Ge Wang_, the Harvest King!" He laughed out loud. "The Power to travel between the World of the Living and the Dead!"

Sam turned to look at the Masked Man and then back at Danny. Her memories turned to the time Danny was controlled by Freakshow. She had to rescue him that time too and break Freakshow's spell over him.  
"What do you want with him?" demanded Sam angrily, as she secretly motioned for Tucker to move closer to Danny and remove the piece of yellow paper.

"And why should I tell you, young lady?" asked the Masked Man curiously. "What I do is none of your business, little girl." He paused for a while, as if to smile and it almost seemed as if his smile could be seen through the shiny, metallic mask. "Now get out of the way. The _Shou Ge Wang_ and I have a lot of things to do in preparation for _Qing Ming_."

Suddenly, Danny reached out and grabbed Tucker's hand.

"I don't think so, little boy," chortled the Masked Man. "Now, _Shou Ge Wang_, throw this trash away."

In response, Danny went ghost, his hair becoming as white as snow and his clothes changed to the black jumpsuit he wore every time he changed into his ghostly alter-ego. Danny's gloved grip on Tucker tightened before he threw his friend against the wall of the room.

A blast of light suddenly hit Danny in the chest and threw him against the wall.

"What? Impossible!" cried the Masked Man in response, as he whirled around him to find the source of the blast of energy. "What could have possibly…?" He trailed off, as he noticed the object hung above the doorway, a circular mirror set in a wooden eight-sided shape that had its edges painted green and had the Eight Chinese Trigrams painted around its circular edges in green paint.

"It's a _Ba Gua_!" exclaimed Sam in recognition of the Chinese Feng Shui tool.

The Masked Man cried out.  
"No wonder I couldn't get my _Jiangshi_ to follow me in here!" he cried out. He then drew his wooden sword and flung it at the _Ba Gua_ with such force that he cracked the circular mirror, before ringing the bell again. "Rise! Rise up!"

"No, Danny!" cried Sam. "Don't do it!"

"Foolish girl," laughed the Masked Man. "You think that he can hear you now?" He laughed again. "Fordyce put him under so that he wouldn't be awake. These Blue Bow people, they know that a conscious _Shou Ge Wang_ will interfere with their plans, so they put him in a permanent vegetative state." A smile returned to his lips, hidden underneath the metallic mask. "But that suits me just fine." He then pointed his wooden sword straight at Sam. "With him like that, he will never be able to return stray ghosts to _Feng Du_ and I will be able to eat my fill."

Danny's right hand suddenly began to glow green, before he lifted it and aimed straight at his best friend. He then fired at Sam, a beam of pure ectoplasmic energy flying through the air straight at her heart.

"Sam, catch!" cried out Tucker, as he pulled out a _Ba Gua_ from his backpack and flung it at Sam.

Samantha Mason caught the _Ba Gua_ in her hands.  
"Sorry, Danny," she apologised, before she tilted its mirror towards the energy beam. It caught Danny's blast in the shiny mirror surface, before reflecting the energy back at Danny. She watched, as Danny leapt out of the way after the ringing of the Masked Man's silver bell.

"Wretched girl," growled the Masked Man. "What do you think you can do with that _Ba Gua_ of yours? The _Shou Ge Wang_ is mine, little girl. Nothing you can do can stop him from being mine." He then raised his wooden sword and rang his bell again, before rushing straight at Sam thrusting the point of the wooden weapon straight at Sam.

The blade looked blunt, but Sam didn't want to take the chance. She dived out of the way, just narrowly avoiding being hit by the Masked Man's wooden weapon, but that was not enough. Sam had to raise her Ba Gua quickly and reflect another one of Danny's energy blasts.

"Banzai!" cried Tucker, before he rushed straight at Danny and crashed into him, sending him falling to the ground.

The Masked Man spun round, his metallic fibrils flailing out and their sharp edges slapping against Tucker's skin, scratching him. Wordlessly, he lunged at Tucker, thrusting the wooden point of his sword straight at the boy.

Tucker cried out and cowered.

Sam rushed in and shouldered the Masked Man with enough force to make a football couch proud. She shoved him aside.  
"Tucker, get rid of that spell!" she shouted at him.

"What?" exclaimed Tucker.

"That paper!" said Sam.

Tucker suddenly ripped the piece of paper off of Danny's forehead and expected his friend to snap out of his comatose state.  
"Nothing happened!" protested Tucker. He then looked towards Danny. "Come on, Danny. Wake up!" He started shaking the white-haired ghost boy. "Wake up, Danny!" he cried, before slapping his friend across the face a few times.

"He can't hear you, man," said the Masked Man, as he staggered back on to his feet. "Fordyce put him under a long time ago, man." He chuckled. "Even if he does wake up, he'll be tripping for a long time. That drug is a powerful one, man. He'll be seeing things that aren't there and the things that are there will be deformed beyond recognition." He laughed out loud.

"Danny, wake up!"

The Masked Man reached into one of his pockets and brought out another slip of yellow paper with a Chinese incantation written on it in what appeared to be red ink. It was another Talisman and it was not red ink that it had been written in, but a mixture of chicken's blood and ink. He cried out a few words in Chinese and the piece of paper became as stiff and rigid as a piece of cardboard, before he threw it through the air.

It cut past Tucker, tearing his shirt and leaving a red cut in his arm before it landed on Danny's face and settled there like a piece of paper should.

* * *

"Danny! You okay?" asked Alex, as he looked at Danny with a curious look on his face.

He didn't know why. Danny felt stiff in his own limbs and they felt heavy, as if they were made out of rusted metal. He didn't seem to be able to move them as well as he would like to, almost like when your limbs feel heavy in a dream. Why was that?  
"I…" he began and then trailed off. He wanted to tell Alex that nothing was wrong, but he just couldn't bring himself about to do that; he just couldn't let his new friend worry like that. "I'm fine. It's just cramp," he said dismissively.

Yet it was more than cramp. He knew that it was more than cramp. It was a stiffness that had weakened his limbs and made him collapse to the floor.

"You don't look so good," commented Alex. "I should get the Matron."

"No! I'm fine, really!" protested Danny. He then tried to get up to show that he was okay, but he felt far too weak, almost as if this body of his wasn't his own.

Alex shook his head.  
"I'll get the Matron," he told Danny sternly.

An awkward silence soon followed Alex's words. It was an awkward silence, yet words were exchanged. Though neither said a word, the expressions on their faces said more than any words could ever do. After all, words are quite subjective; they are sounds given to ideas and things and concepts by humanity, a humanity that does not understand all that surrounds them.

"Yeah," said Danny quietly. "Thanks."

"Come on, Danny. Wake up! Wake up, Danny!"

A frown appeared on Danny's face, his eyebrows rising upwards quizzically.  
"Huh?" he exclaimed, as he looked around him. "That… No way," he murmured. "That was Tucker's voice." He stood up, without even thinking about it and looked around him.

"Danny, you're okay!" exclaimed Alex in surprise.

Danny looked down at himself. That was right. He was standing now, of his own free will, and the pain and the cramp and the stiffness had all seemed to disappear.  
"Yeah, I guess I am," he agreed with a nod of his head, as he thought quickly for some kind of explanation. "I told you it was just a cramp," he said with an awkward, forced smile spreading his lips. "Say, did you hear that a second ago?" asked Danny.

"Hear what?" asked Alex curiously.

There was no reply from Danny, as he looked around him curiously. It was almost as if he was in a completely different world, as he stood there in the empty school corridor. He didn't even hear Alex's pleas to hurry to class. His mind was more absorbed on Tucker's voice, which had called out to him nonsensically. Danny couldn't understand it. Did that mean Tucker was somewhere in the school?

"Danny, did you hear me?" called out Alex again.

"Huh? What?" exclaimed Danny, as he turned to face his silver-haired friend. "I'm sorry?"

"If we're late, Reverend Fordyce will tear us a new hole," Alex told the raven-haired youth.

"Yeah," said Danny dismissively, as if he didn't care. "You go ahead," he told Alex. "I've got to check something out." He then turned, running as quickly as he could back down the corridor and Alex's cries fell on deaf ears. He didn't his friend calling out to him. All he could hear was the nagging feeling in his heart and mind, that feeling that something was desperately wrong.

Why was Tucker there? How did he hear Tucker's voice echo through the corridor? Perhaps it was a PA system. Perhaps Tucker was in the Principal's Office. Yet if that was the case, then how did he get there? Why didn't Alex hear him? Why was he even there?

"Stop right there!"

* * *

They had been running for ages.

Sam was sure that the Masked Man could have had them killed anytime he pleased, which meant only one thing; the Masked Man was toying with them. They were being chased around for sport, for the Masked Man's amusement. In the short amount of time they had spent at the Hospital, they had become the hunted. They were hunted by the armed Security Guards and now by the Undead. No longer were they the ones helping Danny hunt ghosts. No longer were they the hunters. They had become fresh meat.

The black-haired girl turned back round to look behind her. She didn't see anyone behind her, but that didn't mean they were safe. Sam was well aware that Danny could walk through walls and fly. She was well aware of what he was capable of and knew that he could be anywhere. He could even have been behind them, following them whilst invisible.

Tucker suddenly swore, as he skidded to a halt.  
"He's in front of us!" he cried out.

There was a scraping noise of metal against tile, as the Masked Man walked round from the corner flanked by two Jiangshi and with Danny by his side.  
"There is nowhere to run, children," he said, unaware of how often that phrase and its derivatives had been used. "Don't waste my time."

"Oh, please!" cried Sam angrily. "We know you're enjoying it!"

"That may be so," chuckled the Masked Man. "That may be so." He then rang his silver bell, as he aimed his wooden sword straight at Samantha and Tucker. "Get them."

Sam and Tucker turned tail and ran back down the way they had come. They didn't care that Danny was more than capable of catching up with them. All that mattered was getting away from him, from their friend, now under the control of the Masked Man as if he was some kind of marionette. They had to get away. There was no telling what he would be forced to do to them if he ever caught up with them. There was no telling what would happen.

* * *

"Stop right there!" protested Alex, as he skidded to a halt in front of Danny, spreading his arms so as to take up as much space as possible.

Danny skidded to a halt, surprised to see his friend in front of him so quickly. He wondered how Alex could have got ahead of him so quickly and began to wonder if Alex had taken another one of those not-so secret routes that littered the place, routes that would have been secret to complete strangers but not to residents of the school.  
"Alex," he sighed.

"What do you think you're doing?" asked Alex angrily, as he glared at Danny. "Do you want to get into trouble?"

"No, I don't," was Danny's reply, as he shook his head. "But didn't you hear that voice over the PA? That was Tucker! My best friend! He was calling to me."

Alex looked as if he was about to say something, but then stopped. A thoughtful look spread across his face, before the anger drained away from his face and was replaced by a cold, calm expression that didn't seem to match Alex at all.  
"I think, Daniel, that we should get you to the Matron," he told Danny. "You're getting delirious." He approached Danny slowly, walking deliberately as if he was a man trying to capture a snake. "Now, just take a deep breath and…"

He didn't finish his sentence before the bell rang.

Alex cried out suddenly, clutching at his head. He fell down to his knees as the bell continued to ring, its sound apparently deafening to Alex.

If asked, Danny would admit that even he gritted his teeth upon hearing the bell. It seemed to drill into his skull, but it was bearable, giving him only a minor headache. But the ringing of the bell seemed to be drilling into Alex's skull, almost physically like some kind of power drill.  
"Alex! What's wrong?" cried Danny, as he rushed over to his friend. He tried to kneel down beside Alex but, in his writhing of pain, Alex hit Danny with such force that he knocked Danny back over on to his rear.

And it was from the floor that Danny realised something. There were no bells in the school. Even when the fire had set the alarms off, there were only sirens. He had never seen nor heard a single bell upon entering the school's hallowed grounds. Where was this ringing coming from?

"Get out!" cried Alex suddenly, his voice high-pitched with pain. "You've got to get outta here while you still can! Get going! Go!" He suddenly rose to his feet and with one great push, he shoved Danny aside…

* * *

The corridors of Maudsley all looked the same, as did almost every stairwell.

Each one was painted a hideous off-white, with the paint peeling off the walls. Each one had the same linoleum floor or wooden floor, and almost every single corridor contained some painting of Professor Zeross or some bust of his visage. And Zeross seemed to stare lifelessly form every corridor, from every wall, from every marble pedestal, making them feel as if they were being watched by unseen eyes.

Soon, they skidded to a halt.

Sam looked all around her. There were several routes they could go, but which one was more likely to take them away from the Masked Man and his battalion of _Jiangshi_? She picked out the compass from her pocket, the compass that she had rigged to point towards Danny instead of the North Pole. Sam swore under her breath upon seeing the compass needle spinning round uselessly in some poor imitation of the blade of a blender or the rotors of a helicopter. Something was interfering with the compass, but she had no idea what. She looked all around her.

"Sam, what are you waiting for?" asked Tucker, as he rushed back towards her. "We've got to go!"

"The compass' broken," was Sam's exhausted reply.

"Who cares?" protested Tucker, as he turned to his left and saw the marble staircase that led to the ground floor of the Main Hall. "Come on! We gotta get out of here!"

Sam shook her head.  
"No, we can't leave Danny behind," she told him.

"Hello! Danny's out to kill us, remember?" cried Tucker.

Tucker did have a point there; Sam had to admit that, but she didn't want to leave Sam behind. She was sure that Tucker didn't want to either. Yet what could they do? If it was as simple as removing the Talisman from Danny, there wouldn't be a problem. Yet even removing the Talisman from his face wouldn't wake Danny up. He was out cold.

"We've got to think up of something," said Sam, as she looked around her and spotted one set of double doors right opposite the staircase. "Come on. Let's hide in there."

"No way!" protested Tucker with a shake of his head. "That's way too obvious."

"Exactly," said Sam with a smile on her face. "It's so obvious, they won't think we'd be hiding there." She grabbed Tucker's hand, before saying, "Come on." She pulled him along and pushed open the double doors slightly so it just open enough for them to squeeze through, which she did. Sam then pulled Tucker through and then the two of them closed the doors behind them.

Tucker turned round and then he felt his heart sink.

They had stumbled across a former Chapel that seemed foreboding in all its religious splendour. It was a grand chapel with gold gilt and wooden floors and great wooden pews. Great stain-glass windows lined the walls, but iron bars guarded the windows, as if the Chapel was an annex of some prison. And the roof seemed high above them, supported by ornate pillars that towered over their heads. It was evident that much money had been spent on this vast, ornate chapel, the great huge golden cross that stood at the altar at the far end, and the five wooden seats that sat at the back of the chapel, each with a Latin inscription marked on it to identify who sat in which seat.

Sam wondered about the Chapel. Would ghosts be able to penetrate it? It didn't seem to be the sort that ghosts would like, judging from the design. Yet she wasn't too much of an expert in those sort of things. She walked down the aisle, looking around her for any signs of Jiangshi or the Masked Man or even Danny, and as she walked down the aisle, she looked up and down the Chapel up to the stain-glass windows and… The stain glass windows caught Sam's attention. There was something about them that seemed strange…

"Those windows," murmured Sam, as she looked up at them and saw the images of four-leaf clovers and acorns on them, "they're ghost-proof."

"Say what?" exclaimed Tucker. "How'd you know that?"

Sam explained to him how she had read up on ghost superstitions and normal superstitions. She told him how she had come across references talking about how clovers were supposed to protect against the spells of magicians and the wiles of fairies, and how that it seemed to work against ghosts too. Sam told him of how there was a superstition that placing an acorn at the window will keep lightning out, and how since ghosts were electromagnetic entities that the acorns worked against ghosts too.

"Huh, I always thought that ghosts were made of ectoplasm."

"They are, but ectoplasm is merely junk matter condensed into a gelatinous form by the ghost's electromagnetic waves," said an old-sounding voice, a voice that didn't belong to Sam.

There was suddenly the noise of footsteps and hopping and of metal scraping against the floor. It was an ominous medley of sounds that set their hair on end and sent chills running down their spine.

The Masked Man had followed them into the chapel and got his _Jiangshi_ to surround Sam and Tucker on all sides, and behind him were three _Jiangshi_, each with a Talisman on their foreheads, two of which were carrying one metallic pole each on which was a yellow banner with a Chinese incantation written on it that was the same as the one written on the Talismans on their foreheads. The one in the middle held a lit red candle with a Talisman stuck on to one side of it.

"It would seem that you underestimated me, children," said the Masked Man sternly. "Did you really think that this Chapel could shield you from me and my _Jiangshi_?" He chuckled, before telling them, "Yes, ghosts cannot get in through the windows, but they can get in through the open doors." He lifted his silver bell and rang it sharply.

In response, Danny materialised by the Masked Man's side, taking shape and becoming tangible in mid-air. He floated there limply, as if he was tired or dead and the Talisman, the yellow piece of paper, stuck to his head failed to move.

"Danny!" cried Sam.

"Have you forgotten already?" asked the Masked Man. "He cannot hear you, not since Fordyce so helpfully put him under."

"You won't get away with this," shouted Tucker futilely.

The Masked Man laughed.  
"Whatever makes you think I won't?" he asked Tucker curiously. "Have I not already got the Harvest King under my power?" he asked them, as he drew out his wooden sword. "Have I not already demonstrated my hold over him? Have I not tracked you down and surrounded you? You cannot escape. You cannot leave this place alive."

He rang his little silver bell again.  
"We are the _Mao Shang_," he told them sternly, "and we have hunted ghosts for centuries. Me, the members of Blue Bow, we are all _Mao Shang_ and the Harvest King is the greatest of us all. Yes, the Harvest King is the greatest of all the _Mao Shang_ and now he is under my control, making me the most powerful of all Ghost Eaters and Ghost Hunters." He smiled. "Now, Great Harvest King, cut these little whelps down to size," he ordered.

Green, ectoplasmic energy began to form in Danny's right hand. It started off as a few globules of green glowing energy, before condensing into a sphere of energy in the palm of his gloved hand, tingeing his white glove green with its glow. More energy began to build up in the palm of his hand as Danny mindlessly and unconsciously concentrated his energy into that single sphere. Then with one violent movement of his fingers, he clenched his hand into a fist and in doing so, the sphere of energy elongated and became a blade of green energy shaped like a sword.

The Masked Man watched with satisfaction as the green energy of ectoplasm in Danny's hand became more solid and started to glow with a ferocious energy that suggested heat and power that only a laser could hope to achieve.  
"Silly kids," he chuckled. "You had no right to interfere with the Plans of the _Shi Ti'en Yen Wang_. You had no right to even be near the Harvest King, appointed as King by the Lords of Death themselves." He laughed, as he raised his hand slowly, the bell's handle gripped firmly between forefinger and thumb. "I shall send you both to _Feng Du_ and when you are there, tell the _Shi Ti'en Yen Wang_ that they will be next." Then he rang the silver bell, shaking it side to side. "Kill! Kill them both!" he ordered.

"Danny, no, don't!" protested Sam.

"Yeah, man," agreed Tucker with a nod of his head. "Don't do it! We're your friends, Danny!"

The Masked Man laughed.  
"He can't hear you, children," he told them. "Kill!"

Danny raised the sword of ectoplasmic energy, aiming it straight at Samantha. His entire body seemed tensed, as if ready to pounce, as if ready to strike and pierce Sam through the chest. There was no emotion on Danny's face, from what could be seen around the Talisman that hung off his forehead as if it had been pinned to his skull. He seemed as if he was in another world completely, even though his stance suggested that something was in control of him and making him move as if he was in control of his own body.

"Kill!" cried the Masked Man and Danny rushed forward, thrusting the point of the ectoplasmic blade towards his friends.

"Danny!"

Tucker opened his eyes, to see that the blade was only inches away from his nose. He glanced sideways at Sam and then back towards his best friend.  
"Danny?" said Tucker quietly, his throat constricted from fear and making his words a strangled whimper.

Slowly, Danny's hand gloved hand reached up and grabbed the Talisman by its bottom edge, pinching it between forefinger and thumb. Then with one tug, he pulled it free from his face. He turned round to face the Masked Man, his glowing green eyes staring straight at him and though he recognised the Masked Man, his face didn't show it. Danny's face didn't even register emotion, as he recognised the Masked Man as being the same one that had hospitalised him in the first place. It was almost as if the Talisman had side-effects and that one of the side-effects was the removal of his very emotions.

He didn't even react when the Masked Man rang the bell again and then aimed his wooden sword straight at the ghost child.

The _Jiangshi_ made their move. They leapt almost comically towards Danny and would have been a hilarious sight indeed if it weren't for their very hideous nature. Yet even though they closed in on Danny and his friends, he did not move. It was almost as if he couldn't move or as if he had lost the will to fight, and there continued to be no expression on Danny's face.

Suddenly, Danny sprang into action. In a flash, he rushed forwards and with one swing of the ectoplasmic sword in his hand, he rushed past the _Jiangshi_ and stopped on the other side of them. He did not look back. Danny didn't look back to see what had happened. He knew that the _Jiangshi_ had stopped in their tracks, as if they had become statues and he knew why.

All the _Jiangshi_ that Danny had struck at suddenly slid backwards, but not all of them. Only their top halves slid backwards, as if they had been cut clean in half, which was exactly what had happened. Yet before their upper halves could leave their bodies, they all went black and disintegrated into dust that dispersed into the air to settle on the ground like black snow.

"What?" exclaimed the Masked Man in disbelief. "How could you have disposed of them so quickly?"

"I know it's you, Blind Gerald," said Danny sternly, as he glared at the Masked Man. "You can't hide from me behind that mask."

"No!" protested the Masked Man with a desperate, violent shake of his head. "You're wrong! I'm not Gerald! I'm not Gerald!"

With one battle cry, Danny rushed straight at the Masked Man and slashed at the metallic mask, cutting it clean in half. He then leapt into the air, kicking Blind Gerald in the head with such force that he sent the man crashing into his three remaining _Jiangshi_ and knocking the candle out of the hand of the third _Jiangshi_. Danny would then have made his move to finish off the Jiangshi, but he saw that he didn't need to as the flame of the candle spread on to one of the _Jiangshi_ and then started to spread through its body.

Blind Gerald cried out as the flames started to lick at his own clothes. He slapped at them frantically in an attempt to put them out, but it didn't seem to work. The flames consumed his three _Jiangshi_ and seemed to be hungry for him as well, spreading across his clothes like some burning rash across skin. And his shrieks of fear echoed all around them.

There was a whoosh and a gust of foam hit Blind Gerald putting him out and covering him.

Dr. Fordyce's gaze turned away from the foam covered Blind Gerald, as he dropped the fire extinguisher, and his eyes focused on Danny instead.  
"So, Mr. Fenton, it would seem that you failed to tell us something about yourself, hm?" he commented calmly. "I must admit, I'd never thought you'd wake up after all the drugs I gave you. You should have been sleeping 'til Kingdom come."

Danny turned to look at Blind Gerald and then Fordyce.  
"He was working for you, wasn't he?" he said and it seemed more than a statement than a question.

"You ain't quite as dumb as you look, boy," was Fordyce's reply, as an inane smile spread across his lips. "Yeah, I asked him to take you out, but he got greedy so I had to shoot him full of haloperidol." He chuckled. "Made him crazier than a turkey on fire."

"Nice hospital you've got here, Doc," said Tucker sarcastically. "Let me guess. You must be a sure win for Doctor of the Month, right?"

Danny, however, remained silent. He was cold and his breath had become like a mist, as if the room was very cold. Could it be that Fordyce was a ghost and if so, why didn't he sense it before? Well, whatever he was, Fordyce seemed to be hiding something. Was Fordyce stronger than he looked? It was quite possible and Danny didn't like the thought of it.  
"You just leave my friends out of this," he told Fordyce sternly. "Do what you want with me, but you leave Sam and Tucker alone."

The smile on Fordyce's lips seemed to widen, if such a thing were possible.  
"Now, you know I can't do that," he told Danny with a shake of his head. "They've seen too much." He then delved into his pocket and threw something at Danny.

The white-haired youth became intangible but even that was not enough. Whatever it was that Fordyce threw at him, it seemed to stick to him and it burned as if it was molten wax. Danny cried out in pain and in that instant he became solid again, just in time for Fordyce to hit him with two of his outstretched fingers that hit him with such force that he was thrown back through the air.

"Stupid boy," said Fordyce. "I take back what I said about you." He reached up and took off the toupee from his head, throwing it aside. "You're dumber than a sack of bricks if you think you can take me on," he told Danny, as he lowered his head to reveal the four-leaf clover tattoo on his bald head. "There's not a ghost around that can harm me, boy." He raised his head again to reveal that inane-looking smile on his lips.

Danny looked up from the floor and towards Fordyce. He saw the doctor standing there, looking just like Reverend Fordyce did in his dreams. He remembered the words Alex had told him before Alex had helped him to wake up. And as much as Danny wanted to do something against Fordyce, he knew he had no other choice but to do as Alex had told him to do. He got back up to his feet and turned to look at Sam and Tucker, before turning back round to face Fordyce.  
"I don't know what you did to Alex," he said sternly, "but I'll be back to save him."

He then took to the air and curved round to grab both Sam and Tucker underneath one arm. Using his own supernatural strength, Danny picked them up and became intangible, flying through the floor.

"Harvest King," drawled Fordyce with a smug smile on his face. "You weren't so tough."


	5. Chapter 5: The Zephyr Song :FIXED:

Author's Note: Due to the recent comments I've been receiving about how much like Harry Potter this story is, let me make something very clear. Harry Potter is definitely NOT one of the sources of inspiration for this story. It never is and never will be. I've never read Harry Potter or seen the movies and I don't intend to. Similarities may be coincidental, because I happen to live in the UK and am most familiar with British private schools. Seeing as some of you have commented on how similar to Harry Potter the school is, I'm thinking that possibly J. K. Rowling's inspiration for Hogwarts was a British private school.

Now, let me state what stories, shows and movies have really influenced this story.  
"Anubis Gates" and "Earthquake Weather" by Tim Powers (specifically Earthquake Weather, for if I had never read that story, you would not be reading this fanfic right now).  
"Mr. Vampire" (A famous Chinese Vampire movie from Hong Kong).  
"Vision of Escaflowne" (Helped me to inspire the character of Professor Zeross).  
"Megaman Zero 1"  
"Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask"

That's about it, I guess. So, now that that's over with, please enjoy the story.

* * *

**Chapter Five: The Zephyr Song**

Danny closed the metallic door of his locker firmly with a gloved hand.

It felt strange being back at Casper High, after all, his mind was still filled with the fresh memories of being at Streete Court High. He had a hard time accepting that that school was nothing more than a dream-induced fantasy, created by the doctors at Roslyn Hospital to ensure he would never wake up. How could he not believe that Streete Court wasn't real, when all the people had seemed so real to him and Alex…?

The raven-haired youth still had no idea what had happened back there after Alex went berserk. He could merely remember being pushed back and falling from what seemed like an impossibly great high. All Danny could remember was falling for what seemed like the longest time and then opening his eyes to find himself in the act of terminating his friends.

"I don't get it," he muttered to himself.

Surely, he should have been far more resistant to mind control than before, especially after the Incident with Freakshow? Yet, there he was, under the control of one of Maudsley's mental patients and about to slice his friends to tiny pieces. He was just thankful he woke up when he did.

As he turned away from his locker and walked down the cold, empty corridor of the school, Danny couldn't help but wonder about his entire ordeal. Why were the doctors so keen on keeping him unconscious? What were they up to and how come nobody was investigating that Dr. Fordyce for bad medical practice? He couldn't understand any of it and his mind was filled with questions, as he made his way towards the school's front entrance.

"Hey, Danny!" called out Tucker, as he waited there with his trademark large backpack and with so many layers on that he looked as if he had been eating far too much lately. "What took you, man?"

"Sorry, Tuck," apologised Danny, as he closed in on his friend. "Had to pick trash out of my hair thanks to Dash."

"Uh, you missed some there," said Tucker, as he reached up and picked a sweet wrapper out from the jet black strands of Danny's hair. He then tossed it into the bin as if it was some dead rat. "So, you feeling okay?" asked Tucker, as they pushed open the doors of the school and walked out.

Danny sighed.  
"Not too bad, Tuck," was his reply. "I'm just… a bit confused."

"Yeah, well you can thank Fordyce for that," said Sam, who had been waiting for them outside, wrapped up in a black jacket and with a lurid green and black striped scarf. "Erm… Danny, you can relax. He's not going to come round with the men in white to spirit you away, y'know."

A big smile spread across Tucker's lips and his green eyes lit up with a spark of mischief that seemed to dance in his pupils.  
"Yeah," he agreed, the smile widening across his face until it threatened to engulf his entire face. "We took care of that."

"Huh?" exclaimed Danny.

"Tucker hacked into the hospital computers and changed your records," explained Sam.

"That's right," confirmed Tucker with a nod of his head. "They can't lay a hand on you now, Danny. As far as those records are concerned, you were released just yesterday and you were never transferred to Maudsley."

Danny was about to ask them why they hadn't told him sooner, after all, he had spent most of that day afraid that the hospital would come after him. Yet he thought better of it. They told him in the end, so that was all that mattered. What was a morning and afternoon of worrying? All that mattered was that his friends had saved him from an eternity in that mental institute.

A smile spread across Danny's face at the thought of that.  
"I guess you guys have kinda repaid me back for all those times I've saved you, huh?" he commented, before he tripped over a crack in the pavement and landed face first into a puddle.

"You okay, Danny?" asked Sam, as she rushed over to her fallen friend.

Sam knew that she had to be careful around Danny and had to keep an eye on him. Who knew what drugs Fordyce had pumped into Danny and what side-effects they had? She didn't even know how long they usually lasted in the human body and whether they would last longer in a body that was half-human and half-ghost. Sam just hoped that they didn't do any damage to Danny's young body, but what if they did?

"Yeah, I'm fine," replied Danny, as he got back up to his feet and took off his wet scarf. "A bit wet, but I'm fine." He then dusted himself off as best as a wet person could.

"You sure?" asked Sam concernedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Sam," said Danny irritably, after all, Sam had been asking all last night and all that day. It was beginning to get very annoying. "Look, can we get going now?" he asked, even though they hadn't stopped that long. "I need to get back and change into some dry clothes."

"Sure thing, Danny," replied Tucker. "So, you still up for that study session today?"

Danny was about to ask Tucker what he was talking about, before he suddenly realised that they had a test tomorrow. If they wanted to do well, they would have to study for that. Still, he had only just got out of hospital last night. Surely Mr. Lancer would be understanding enough to give Danny some extra time for studying?  
"Yeah, I'm up for it," replied Danny suddenly. "So, how's about coming round to my place?"

"Sounds good," replied Sam. She was far more concerned for Danny and wondered whether she'd spend any time studying at all at his place. Would she end up keeping an eye on him all that time and throughout the night?

Suddenly, Danny shivered and his breath became like mist as if the temperature around him had suddenly dropped.  
"Sheesh, it's cold," he commented, as he shivered violently. He felt as if someone was dancing on his grave, as a cold chill ran through his spine and spread through his body until he felt he would get pneumonia.

"It's a ghost, isn't it?" exclaimed Sam.

"Loads of them," replied Danny, as he continued to shiver. He felt as if there was an army of ghosts rampaging through the city and he could sense them all. "There's so many of them."

"Wait!" called out Sam, as she laid a hand on Danny's shoulder. "You can't just go out there. What if it's those doctors from the hospital? What if it's a trap?"

"I can't take that chance, Sam," protested Danny with a shake of his head. "There's so many of them. They might be doing something really bad." He then looked at Sam's hand. "Um… Sam, do you mind?" he asked her, as he felt her fingers digging into him.

Sam suddenly realised that she was practically digging her nails into Danny's flesh.  
"Oh, I'm sorry, Danny," she apologised, as she shirked her hand away from him. She then watched as he transformed before her very eyes into his ghost form. "Danny!" she called out, before he could take off. "Be careful, okay? If something happens, call us."

There was a look of concern in Sam's eyes that Danny had never seen before. It was so intense, as of someone who really cared for him. Was that love in her eyes or was it just the concern of a good friend? Danny couldn't tell, but it certainly made him think.  
"Don't worry, Sam," he said with a small smile on his lips. "I'll be back," he said, making Sam wince at the cheesiness of the phrase he had chosen.

He then leapt up into the air, taking flight and rising high above the streets of Amity Park. Danny rose high above the rooftops and flew in a westerly direction as quickly as he could. _Strange_, Danny thought, _it's quite windy today_. It was making it quite difficult for him to fly and keep his balance, so he became invisible and flew lower, skirting just above the rooftops.

What was going on? It had become unusually cold that day and boilers all over the city had failed to start. Heaters had failed and even stoves had failed to ignite, forcing the cafeteria to serve nothing but salads and cold sandwiches. They had taken classes in the cold, shivering and nearly failing to grasp their writing implements.

Now it was windy beyond belief, adding to the bitter coldness that enveloped the city.

Suddenly, something rose up from the nearby zoo that Danny wouldn't have believed if he hadn't seen it with his own two eyes. It was a great cyclone, a tornado of wind that rose up from the ground rather than coming down towards the ground as they usually do.

"I bet that's a ghost," said Danny to himself, before he allowed himself an extra burst of speed and rushed in the direction of the tornado.

Only, he didn't get very far before something blasted him in the chest. There was a great explosion and everything suddenly white, before Danny felt he was falling. He tried to stop himself, but he was far too dazed to do anything. He couldn't see. He couldn't hear save for the incessant ringing in his ears and by the time he was aware of where he was in relation to the ground, it was too late.

Danny's teeth jarred as he struck the tarmac with a force that was sure to have broken his bones, if he hadn't been tougher than the average human.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"

The white-haired half-ghost suddenly lifted his head. He recognised that voice and that insanely posh British accent! How could he not recognise that voice?  
"O'Donnell?" he exclaimed in disbelief.

"I see you remember me," said the raven-haired man, as he stood next to the jeep with his arms folded, looking at Danny through a pair of spectacles, the left-eye of which was tinted red. "Now, may I ask what you're doing out here all alone and out of hospital so soon?" he asked Danny curiously. "Don't you know you shouldn't leave until you get the go ahead from the doctors?"

"I got discharged," replied Danny, as he leapt sprightly back up to his feet.

"You mean you discharged yourself," retorted O'Donnell calmly, as he unfolded his arms and dusted the sleeves of his dark suit. "I think you should go back, young Mr. Fenton. We can't be too careful now, can we?" He clicked his fingers and several figures rose up out of the ground.

Three figures rose up from the ground and took their positions there, floating above the ground. They had the tails one would expect from a ghost in place of their legs and all five of them were dressed in what looked like the old robes of a Chinese mandarin during the era of the Chinese Empire. All of them had Talismans on their faces, pieces of yellow paper with incantations written on them in what looked like red ink.

Danny sighed.  
"Please," he said with a roll of his eyes. "Can't you do better than that?"

"I must say that I didn't expect your friends to be so persistent," commented O'Donnell as if he hadn't heard Danny's question. "You have good friends, Mr. Fenton, however may I suggest that you do not rely on them too much? They are not _Mao Shang,_ unlike us." He smiled. "We are the Exorcists that defend the Living from the actions of the Dead. We are the ones standing on the front line."

A smile spread across O'Donnell's lips and widened.  
"When you think about it, we aren't that much different," he told Danny, "now are we?" He chuckled.

"No, we're very different," protested Danny with a shake of his head. "For one, I don't go about drugging young boys." His eyes narrowed. "What are you and Zeross up to?"

There was no reply from O'Donnell. He merely stood there with a stony expression on his face.  
"Go!" he commanded and the five ghosts turned tail and flew away from Danny. The smile on his lips reappeared, even wider than before. "I take it that you were heading towards that tornado, young Master Fenton," he said to Danny. "Am I right?"

"What's it to you?" asked Danny.

"Oh, nothing really," said O'Donnell dismissively. "There's no reason really, but I'm sure you'll find out sooner or later, that is, if you survive what I have in store for you." He lifted a whistle to his lips and blew into it with all his might, yet in doing so no sound seemed to come out.

Danny frowned.  
"I think that's broken," he told O'Donnell.

Suddenly, the air around them echoed with howls. They were eerie howls and there were many of them. These howls seemed to come from all over the place and seemed so mournful. They sounded far more mournful than the howls of a real dog or even that of a real wolf.

Two dogs suddenly appeared by O'Donnell's side. Each of them were black but seemed to glow with an eerie energy as did their eyes, which glowed a fluorescent green like Danny's. The two ghost dogs, both wolf-like in appearance, growled at Danny, their fur standing on end and a seemingly red fluid dribbling from their black lips. Both lifted their muzzles to the air and then howled again, their howls becoming a deafening roar that seemed loud enough to tear Danny's body apart with sonic energy.

"Looks fine to me," commented O'Donnell, as he crossed his arms behind his back. The smile on his lips widened into a wolfish grin. "Did you know that black dog's blood is a very effective exorcism tool used by the _Mao Shang_?" asked O'Donnell curiously. "Well, it doesn't matter if you don't. I think you'll soon find out how effective it can really be." He then pointed straight at Danny. "Sic him!" he ordered.

Now Danny really liked dogs, but he couldn't help but not like these ghost dogs that rushed straight at him, foaming blood at their mouths. They lunged straight at him and he became intangible; the two dogs leapt straight through him and landed on the other side. He turned round as they barked, spitting blood at him, which landed on him and started to burn through his black suit.

Danny cried out, as he tried to shake the blood off his arm.  
"What is that?" he cried, as he flailed his arms in an attempt to shake the blood off. "Acid?"

"I told you black dog's blood is effective against ghosts," O'Donnell said in that 'I-warned-you' manner. "Obviously, you had to see it first hand before you could believe me." He chuckled. "Yes, Ancient Chinese methods seem quite bizarre and you wouldn't think they'd work at first, but you'd be surprised how good the old methods can be." He walked calmly back towards the jeep, not caring what the dogs were doing to Danny.

O'Donnell reached into the glove compartment and brought out a small burlap sack.  
"You should avoid all sorts of things if you're a ghost," he said in that authoritative tone of his, making him sound a lot like Mr. Lancer. "For example, ghosts and the undead really don't like glutinous rice." He fished into the sack and took out a handful of rice grains, before hurling them at Danny.

He missed but they landed on the ground.

Danny stepped in it and the grains started burning into his white boot. He cried out, as he flew over the grains of glutinous rice and high above the dogs.  
"Down, boys! Down!" he shouted at the dogs, as they leapt into the air after him.

A sudden flash of inspiration hit Danny. He quickly kicked out with one foot, the one with the rice grains stuck to it. The ghost boy shoved his foot on to the head of one of the dog ghosts and heard a yelp of pain, as he wiped the grains off of him and on to the dog. He flew back and watched the dog frantically pawing at its head and shaking its head to remove the rice grains, but it was finding it difficult.

The ghost dog howled before it suddenly disintegrated into a green mist that dissipated into the wind.

He then fired an ectoplasmic blast of energy that struck the other ghost dog and sent it flying down to the ground. Danny didn't like to do that to a dog, but he knew he had to. These, after all, were out to get him and he couldn't just stand by and let them tear him to pieces with their blood-stained fangs.

Danny then fired a beam straight at O'Donnell, knocking the sack of glutinous rice out of his hand and making the grains spill across the ground.  
"It's chow time, boy," he called out to the dog, as he dived down and grabbed it by the scruff of its neck. Then with all his strength, he threw the dog straight at the rice pooled on to the floor and watched as it disintegrated upon touching it. "Now, it's your turn," he said, as he turned towards O'Donnell.

The man spread his arms out.  
"You aren't going to harm a defenceless man, now are you?" asked O'Donnell, as he spread his fingers out and exposed his palms to show that he had nothing in his hands. "And let's not forget I'm wearing glasses. It would be wrong of you to hit someone with glasses, wouldn't it?"

O'Donnell had a point there, Danny had to admit that. He hated it, actually, because he knew that O'Donnell was up to something, but he couldn't do anything without looking a total jerk. What was O'Donnell smiling about?

Suddenly, something hit him in the back of the neck and he fell forwards.

Standing over Danny was a humanoid ghost with two heads, two canine heads that belonged to the ghost dogs that Danny had defeated before. Both heads growled and crimson saliva dribbled from their mouths to splatter on the tarmac near Danny, as the strange canine ghost closed in on Danny.

"Fordyce let you escape, but I shall bring you back to the Hospital," stated O'Donnell smugly. "There, we'll take a sample from you and build an army of you. There's nothing you can do to stop us, Fenton, my boy. There's nothing you can do."

"I beg to differ, old chap," called out a voice mockingly.

The two-headed ghost suddenly howled viciously and thrashed about as rice grains stuck to its body. They burned at it horribly and the ghost started to smoke as the grains stuck to it. Its arms flailed violently as the ghost spun round and tried everything it could to tear the grains off of its body. Then both heads gave one hideous howl of pain before the thing disintegrated into slime that splattered on to the floor wetly.

"Hm, now that I think about it, the blood it oozed should have done compromised its bodily structure too," commented O'Donnell calmly.

"Sam? Tuck?" exclaimed Danny, as he looked up.

The stern expression on Sam's face lightened up, as she looked at her snow-haired friend.  
"Hey, you didn't think we'd leave you alone to face against this freak, now did you?" she asked him.

"Yeah, what made you think we'd let you have all the fun?" agreed Tucker with a nod of his head.

"Thanks, guys," thanked Danny sincerely, as he got back up to his feet. "I didn't really need your help back there, but I really appreciated it." He then turned round to face O'Donnell. "So, you give up?" he asked and then a look of surprise spread across his own face. "What are you smiling about?"

O'Donnell looked calmly at the ectoplasm that lay cooling on the floor near Danny and then back up at the three youths before him.  
"A ghost resistant to black dog's blood," he murmured quietly under his breath. He chuckled. "You don't know what you're really doing, do you?" he asked them calmly. "Do you even know what you're fighting against and for what cause you're fighting for?"

"Well, at least we're not on your side," protested Tucker angrily.

"Ha!" cried O'Donnell. "Get a sample of that now!" he ordered, before he leapt up into the jeep.

A ghost lunged out from the jeep with a container of some sort and scooped up a huge dollop of the ectoplasm, before it curved back round in its flight and leapt back into the jeep. It dumped the container into O'Donnell's hands, before it flew straight into the jeep and took control of the vehicle.

The tyres screeched and then the jeep drove off, speeding away from them.

"He's getting away!" cried Tucker.

"No! Really?" exclaimed Danny sarcastically.

"Uh… guys, is it just me or is that tornado getting closer?" asked Sam, as she looked up.

Danny turned his head and then saw the tornado that had started off its life somewhere near or in the zoo. It was twirling a path towards them, picking up everything in its path and sucking it up before throwing it through the air.  
"Stand back!" he called out to his friends, before he became intangible and flew straight towards the tornado.

"Danny!" shouted out Tucker. "Where you going, man?"

"Danny, come back!" cried Sam over the roar of the winds, but her words fell on deaf ears.

There was something strange about that whirlwind and Danny knew it all too well. He still felt cold, as he flew towards it and his breath was still getting all misty. Danny knew that it wasn't because of the coldness of the air either. It was a ghost and he could sense it and he knew that it was inside that tornado, in the Eye of the Storm and it was causing the winds that were whirled round it.

He closed his eyes instinctively, as he flew through the tornado and into its heart.

When Danny opened his eyes he saw something prowling around the ground at the bottom of the funnel of circulating wind. It was white and stripy and…  
"A tiger?" exclaimed Danny in surprise. "First it was ghost dogs and now a ghost tiger? Is this Ghost Zoo Day or something?" He sighed and then dived down towards the ghost, with Fenton Flask in hand.

The ghost seemed to be preoccupied with causing the winds that whirled round it violently. If he got close enough and activated the Fenton Thermos then there would be no need for him to even fight it. All he'd do was suck up the ghost and then he would be able to throw it back into the Ghost Zone.

Danny flew silently over head and then slowly lowered himself over the ghost tiger. He knew he had to be careful so as to not disturb the air and he knew he had to act quickly. If the ghost tiger caught a whiff of his scent, it would surely retaliate. So he lowered himself inch by inch and slowly twisted the cap off the Fenton Thermos. He then pressed the button and a beam of energy pulsed out of the Thermos, nearly propelling him backwards.

There was suddenly a roar from the tiger and before Danny knew what happened, he was flung through the air.

"Okay, so maybe this is going to be more difficult than I thought it would be," commented Danny.

* * *

"Tell me again why we rushed after Danny," gasped Tucker between gasps for air, he then looked behind them and saw the tornado rushing straight towards them, tearing up tarmac as it did so.

The reason was simple. Sam had been concerned for Danny's safety, so they had gone running after him in the direction they had last seen him going in. She had been concerned that Danny would get into trouble and might need rescuing from whatever trap it was that he had fallen into. The fact that they had fallen into one themselves seemed quite ironic.

"Shut up," snapped Sam angrily.

* * *

"I wondered where you guys went to," commented Danny, as he floated there in front of the three ghosts that floated around the ghost tiger. They were the very same ones that O'Donnell had summoned earlier and seemed to be guarding the ghost tiger. He wiped the blood away from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand, before saying, "So, what have you been up to, huh?"

There was no reply and Danny didn't expect any.  
"No, no, you don't have to say a thing," he said in reply to their silence. "Just take it easy and let me take you back to the Ghost Zone!" With those last words, he aimed the Fenton Thermos at the ghosts and pressed a button.

The ghost tiger split into three and its components each fused with one of the strange ghosts that O'Donnell had summoned. In that split second, they fled and the beam from the Fenton Thermos struck solid concrete.

One of the ghosts appeared behind Danny. It still had the yellow talisman stuck to its forehead but now its chest was a great huge fan and the blades started whirling round, whipping up a wind that blew Danny through the air. Another ghost then appeared and its arms were like lightning conductors, which it aimed at Danny, before firing bolts of electricity at him.

Danny cried out in agony as the electricity surged through his body, making every muscle in every limb convulse.

The ghost on the other side suddenly swivelled its upper body round, but keeping its head facing Danny. The blades of the fan built into its body now started up a powerful suction that drew Danny closer towards the great sharp rotating edges. It was a powerful suction force that felt like a black hole and the closer got, the more powerful it got. Danny even felt as if he was being slowly stretched by the force of the ghost's suction and as if he would get torn apart even before he hit the blades of the fan.

"No!" cried Danny pathetically, as he whirled round. "No, I won't lose to you!" He then fired a powerful ectoplasmic beam of energy straight at the centre of the ghost, that smashed into the blades, tearing them apart.

Danny smiled.

That was when the third ghost reappeared. It hovered near the damaged fan ghost, before it circled it three times and then became invisible.

The smile on Danny's face disappeared as he watched the blades repair themselves, as if the fan ghost had never been hit by his beam. This was going to require some more strategy on his part. He wondered. Was it possible for him to suck up the individual ghosts?

Suddenly, he felt arms wrap around him. He looked behind him but saw nothing. Was it the invisible ghost that had healed the fan ghost? He could see nothing behind him and ahead of him… Ah, ahead of him he could see the other two ghosts advancing on him menacingly, the one with the electrodes for arms sparking viciously and the one with the fan in its chest slowly spinning those fan blades.

The sharpness of those blades reminded him of a blender. He wondered. Did the ghost intend to liquefy him in those sharp blades? Did it intend to suck him in and then catch him in those rotating blades. Between the two of them, they could make a mean Roast Minced Danny.

"Let go!" cried Danny, as he struggled against the invisible arms of the ghost that held him from behind. At least, it felt as if he was being held from behind, as he could feel the cold body of the ghost behind him. He wondered. "I said, Let go!" he shouted again, before throwing his head back with as much force as he could muster. He winced as his skull connected with the invisible skull of the ghost behind him.

Yet the grip did not loosen. It still held on to him tight.

Wait a second! What was he doing?

Danny remembered the Fenton Thermos still in his hands. He uncapped it and shoved against the ghost behind him.  
"Bye, bye!" he said, before he pressed a button on the side of the cylindrical ghost container. He held it down firmly and heard a screech from behind and felt the ghost's grip on him loosen; and though he couldn't see it, he was sure that the ghost was being sucked into the Thermos.

"All right! Who's next?" exclaimed Danny, as he aimed the Thermos in front of him. He pressed the button again and beam of energy shot out of the opening.

The ghosts spread out, letting the beam pass right by them. The lightning ghost aimed one of its electrodes at Danny and then fired a bolt of electricity that smacked the Fenton Thermos straight out of the ghost boy's hands. It then charged up its electrodes, causing a huge spark from between its electrodes that seemed as bright and vivid as a fireworks display. The ghost let out a crackling sizzle, before it charged straight at Danny.

Yet Danny had already fallen into a dive, as he flew after the Fenton Thermos. He didn't notice the lightning ghost diving down after him with sparking electrodes. He didn't care. All that mattered was reaching the Fenton Thermos before it hit the tarmac below and shattered into a million pieces, releasing the ghost he had managed to capture.

And just as he was about to reach out to grab the Fenton Thermos, the lightning ghost struck him in the back, sending surges of electricity through his muscles and nerves.

Danny cried out as the lightning ghost's attack seemingly paralysed him. It felt as if thousands of volts raced through him and in the end the pain of the convulsing muscles, the pain caused by electricity surging through the nerves linked to pain receptors, all that pain made him black out and he fell along with the Fenton Thermos down towards the tarmac below.

Finally, after a long time, gravity reminded Danny of the natural laws. It pulled him down along with the Fenton Thermos. He fell like a rock. He was as conscious as a rock. With his eyes closed, he did not see the ground rush up towards him. He did not feel the wind rush past him. He did not even sense the other two ghosts diving down after him, like vultures racing towards a dead carcass. Danny didn't know and he continued to fall.

Suddenly, Danny's eyes snapped open and he saw the tarmac rushing up towards him. He quickly lashed out and grabbed the Fenton Thermos, before turning round and aiming it straight at the ghosts that came straight at him. Danny saw the ghosts hurtling straight towards him and when they were in the line of fire, he pressed the button on the side of the cylindrical ghost container, releasing a beam of energy that flew through the air and caught the two of them in its wake.

He stopped an inch above the tarmac, as he held the Fenton Thermos and kept the finger on the button. If he had regained consciousness only a split second later, he would have hit it with a force that would surely have put him back in hospital and more than likely, the same hospital he had only escaped from the night before.

"Come on," he muttered, as he watched the ghosts struggling to break free. "Just a little bit more."

Then with dual screams, the ghosts dissipated into smoke that spiralled into the Fenton Thermos.

Danny quickly capped the Fenton Thermos and then let himself fall the last inch back down towards the ground, as the tornado around him dissipated and litter started to fall back down from the sky.

He sighed, as he looked skywards as he lay on the ground. Danny didn't know why, but this latest ghost fight seemed to take it out of him more than any of the others he had ever experienced. There was something about it, something about these ghosts that seemed insanely powerful, despite the fact that they had only hit him a few times, despite the fact that he had managed to trap them so easily.

There was a power in them that he didn't quite understand and he knew that it had something to do with O'Donnell. What had that man said before he left? Something about a ghost that was resistant to black dog's blood? He wondered and his brow furrowed. Danny was on the verge of realising something. Was it possible that O'Donnell and his colleagues were engineering artificial ghosts?

"Nah," Danny said to himself, as he sat up. "It couldn't be," he said as he shook his head. "What would they do with artificial ghosts, anyway?" He then thought a little bit more. "Still," he said to himself, "perhaps I should look into it."

"Danny!"

"Danny, you okay, man?"

Sam and Tucker. He didn't even have to turn round to know that it was them. After all, Danny knew them quite well by their voices.  
"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied, without even turning round to look at them. He was too preoccupied with the thoughts of the doctors at Roslyn Hospital and wondering what they could be up to, and why they wanted him out of the way.

Danny turned round.  
"Sam," began Danny, "would you mind if I stay at your place tonight?"

* * *

It was dark as the old man walked through the streets with only his handbag and a small carryall.

Even in Amity Park, there were unsavoury neighbourhoods and this was one of them. This was no place for an unarmed senior citizen to venture at such a late and dark night like this. There wasn't a single night that didn't pass without some poor lady being robbed at gunpoint or worse, though thankfully Amity Park's seedy neighbourhoods was nothing compared to those of other cities in the same State.

And as the old man walked along the sidewalk, he failed to somehow notice the man creeping up behind her. He somehow failed to realise that she was being stalked by one of those petty thugs, the sort that usually steal their guns from people's homes, only to use on other victims.

"Excuse me, sir."

"Yes?" exclaimed the old man, as he turned round and in doing so, he quickly lashed out and knocked the gun straight out of the man's hand. He looked down at the gun, as he said, "I hope you weren't going to use that to rob me."

The thug cried out, as he whipped a knife out of his pocket and then broke his nose against the palm of the old man's hand.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he apologised. "Are you all right?"

He failed to get an answer, as the man, clutching at his bleeding nose, ran away. The old man watched as he ran off like a man being chased by hungry wolves and then shrugged to himself. He turned round and then started walking down the street calmly. After all, there was no point in any more delays, now were there?

The old man had an appointment to keep here in Amity Park and he intended to keep it.

* * *

Professor Zeross sighed as he looked up at the concave, circular mirror above him and the coloured mist that swirled on its surface or in its surface.  
"Something is wrong," he said quietly, but even though he did so, his voice seemed to echo around him like the Voice of God Himself. He reached up to his beard and started running his hand through it, along the strands of hair entwined with ivy. "There is a disturbance. I can see it. But what could be causing this? What could be the cause of all this interference?"

The old man remained silent for a while, before he turned his gaze towards Dr. Fordyce.  
"Could it be?" he asked the bald doctor. "Could it be that the Harvest King is no longer unconscious, Michael?" He quivered, before he said, "I am right, aren't I, Michael. The Harvest King is conscious and wreaking havoc with our signal."

"Well," began Fordyce and then he trailed off. "I'm 'fraid so, _Sifu_. See, his friends didn't take too kindly to him being cooped up like that. No, sir. They busted him out just last night."

"And why was I not informed of this?" asked Zeross curiously.

Fordyce didn't reply for a while. He was thinking things through carefully and planning things. Somehow, he knew he could profit from this disaster, but he wasn't sure how. There had to be a way though. How could he turn the situation to his own advantage?

"Well, Alex didn't want to trouble you, y'see," was Fordyce's reply. "He said he'd have it all under control soon enough with his Life Ghost."

One white eyebrow rose upwards quizzically.  
"Is that so?" asked Zeross calmly. "If our plan is to work, he had better be right. For far too long has the Realm of Death been under the control of the _Shi Ti'en Yen Wang_. They decree who dies and by what manner, making us doctors helpless in the process." He shook his head irritably, as he said loudly, "Well no more! We shall seize control of _Feng Du_, the Kingdom of Death, and we shall decide who dies and by what means!"

Zeross quivered almost as if he was feeling cold.  
"Find the young Harvest King, Michael," he told Fordyce. "Find him and put him under, like we planned. After all, we must be on the safe side as well, mustn't we?"

* * *


	6. Chapter 6: Midnight :FIXED:

Author's Note: Due to the shortness of Chapter Five, I have also uploaded Chapter Six today. Please enjoy both chapters and may I remind you that the ritual described in this chapter is completely improvised on my behalf. It borrows aspects from other strange things I've read and isn't in itself, a real ritual. Capturing ghosts by this method is not guaranteed to work, if ghosts exist, which I severely doubt they do.

* * *

**Chapter Six: Midnight**

"Ah!"

Danny sat bolt upright.

That dream. He had been having that dream for many nights now, ever since he had escaped the hospital. Danny dreamed of being back at Streete Court, only to find it a charred ruin. He had dreamed of walking the ruined corridors and underneath fallen beams of blackened wood that formed triangular archways of splintered lumber that he had to step over and or walk under.

The raven-haired youth had dreamed of walking through the corridors in search of someone, passing charred paintings from which eyes still stared, unblemished by the fire that had raged through the corridors and halls. He had dreamt of walking along the burnt floorboards and the broken marble. He had dreamt of passing broken windows, ruined staircases and the burnt remnants of what had once been a satchel.

And though it was a dream, Danny could smell the vast, overpowering odour of charcoal and of dampness. He could still smell it in his nostrils, even though he was now awake. It was an overpowering aroma that he felt as if he would never forget.

Danny sighed, as he cradled his head in his hands.  
"What does it mean?" he wondered out loud, before he brushed his hair back with both his hands. He looked up at the ceiling, as if he expected to see the answers he wanted up there and then frowned disappointedly. "Alex," he muttered under his breath.

Why did he still have memories of this person in his mind? Why did Alex haunt his dreams? He couldn't understand. He just couldn't understand why Alex haunted his dreams so. Was it possible that Alex was dead and that he was contacting Danny through his dreams? Could it be that Alex was a ghost that Danny had somehow absorbed in hospital and that the ghost was inside of him?

If only he knew. If only Danny knew the answer to his questions and if only he could get to the bottom of it all. Only then would his troubled mind be at ease. Only then would he be able to sleep soundly at night.

There had to be a way to find out. There just had to be, but what could it be? He wanted to find out the truth. Danny wanted to figure out who or what Alex was but how could he go about that? If only there was a way to communicate with the dead and…

Danny looked up suddenly. An idea had formed in his mind, becoming tangible thoughts that could be understood and read and possibly turned into physical reality. It was possible to contact the dead and find out about Alex. It was very possible, but for him to carry his plan out, he needed to wake someone up. He needed to get up and out of bed for that matter and get dressed.

He quickly slid out from underneath the covers and tugged his clothes off the chair he had flung them on. Danny quickly slipped them on over his pyjamas and slipped on a pair of socks, after all, it was cold in the Mason household after midnight, since having it on all night would lead to an uncomfortably hot house.

The raven-haired youth rushed over to the door and slowly turned the handle and was careful to not make a noise. He pushed down slowly and bit by bit, he edged the door open until there was a suitable gap for him to slip through. It was only when he had slipped past through the gap in the door when he realised that all that effort had been completely unnecessary, that all he had to do was become intangible and walk through the door like a ghost, as a ghost.

He turned round and looked at the door and then shrugged to himself, before becoming intangible and floating through the corridor down towards Sam's Room.

Upon reaching her door, Danny wondered whether he should knock or just walk through. If he knocked, surely he would end up waking more than just Sam. Not knocking would be rude. Still, he didn't want a repeat of that incident when he walked in, or rather, floated in, on a nearly half-naked Sam.

Danny decided to knock to save embarrassment, but he knocked very lightly before poking his intangible head through.  
"Sam," he whispered, keeping his eyes closed just in case he might see anything that weren't meant for his very eyes. "Sam," he whispered again. "You awake?" He thought again about the question he had just asked. "Of course, she's not awake; it's one in the morning," he muttered to himself chidingly. "Hey, Sam!" he hissed. "Wake up! Sam!"

He decided to open his eyes and looked through the night darkness, to see a lump in Sam's bed that seemed about the right size to be Sam herself.

The girl seemed to be sleeping and Danny could just about see the rise and fall of the covers, indicating that she was still breathing underneath all that linen. That was a good sign.

Taking a deep breath, Danny became completely intangible and walked through the door. He became physical once on the other side before stepping quietly across the carpeted floor towards Sam's purple bed. It wasn't a long trek and once Danny made it, he slowly laid his hands on the lump in the bed.  
"Sam," he whispered, as he slowly shook the lump in the bed. "Sam, wake up!"

There was a mumble or maybe a groan from underneath the covers and then Sam turned.

"Sam!" whispered Danny.

"Five more minutes," mumbled Sam sleepily.

The raven-haired youth exhaled through clenched teeth and then looked around him. Even in the darkness, he could see the posters that adorned Sam's Room featuring the bands she liked so much. They reminded him exactly how Goth she was and then there was another poster, one of Escher's prints, a strange psychedelic sort of picture where it was impossible to tell which was up and which was down. That particular picture reminded him of just how intelligent Sam was and how well-read she could be.

Was this the wrong time to wake Sam up? After all, it was one in the morning. Perhaps he could bother her about it in the morning, but then again… Was that waiting too long? What if things were to change? What if the answer he was seeking was to change in the time he waited for Sam to awaken?

"Sam!" he called out quietly to the black-haired girl, as he shook her gently. "Sam, wake up!"

Sam twisted in her sleep, her head breaking free from the covers.

Danny found himself unexpectedly blushing. He didn't know why either. There was something about the way she looked to him that made him feel… That made him feel all strange inside, as if he… But surely that wasn't so? He had always denied it and so had Sam. They had always denied having feelings for one another, but he still remembered when the ghost, Ember, placed him under that love spell. He could still remember that undying love he had felt for Sam, a love that seemed to burn as bright as the light from a thousand suns.

He turned round abruptly, the blush slowly turning him redder than a tomato. Danny didn't know what was wrong with him. Was it possible that he truly had feelings for Samantha Mason? He looked behind himself and at Sam's sleeping form. She looked so peaceful, sleeping there and Danny could swear that she looked like an angel, even if that did seem a little bit clichéd.

"It can wait," he sighed to himself, before he tripped over something and fell flat on his face with a heavy thud.

"Huh? What? Who's there?" snorted Sam, as she sat up. She reached out gingerly and switched on her bedside lamp. "Danny?" she exclaimed, after seeing no one was there and then checking the floor, to find the raven-haired youth sprawled on the ground. "What are you doing in my room…" she began, and then spotted the display on her alarm clock, "and at this time in the morning?"

Danny raised his head and looked back, to see that he tripped on her heavy black boots. It reminded him of the time he had first met Sam and how she had deliberately tripped him, and he had ended up careering head first into a trash can. He never thought that he'd trip up on those boots again and certainly not by the boots alone.

"Oh, Sam, you're awake," exclaimed Danny. "Yeah, uh, sorry about that."

"What," repeated Sam, "are you doing in my room?"

Would it be wise for him to explain everything to Sam? Was she really that awake to listen to his entire story or was it best for him to give her the short version? Danny thought about those questions long and hard, but it seemed too long for Sam, as she repeated herself again very sternly. The way she spoke made Danny fear she was getting angrier and wouldn't think twice about beating him with her pillow.

"You mind if we do something with your Ouija Board?" asked Danny, giving her the best smile he could muster under the current conditions.

"At 2 in the morning?" exclaimed Sam in disbelief.

"Please, Sam?" pleaded Danny, giving her the puppy-dog eyes routine he had been practising for many nights on end. "It's really important."

Sam groaned, as she looked away.  
"Don't look at me like that," she told him in an irritated tone of voice. She peeked out of the corner of her eye and saw Danny was still staring at him with those puppy dog eyes and the now quivering lip. It seemed rather pathetic and Sam wouldn't have been surprised if Danny had started whining too. "Fine," she sighed. "Just let me put something warm on."

She looked at him.  
"Erm… Danny, do you mind?" she asked him.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, sorry," he apologised. "I'll wait for you outside, 'kay?"

"No, no," replied Sam with a shake of her head. "Just don't look, okay?" She then slipped out from underneath the bed covers after Danny closed his eyes. She quickly slipped a sweater on. "Right, let's get to it, shall we?" Sam then pointed to the shelf behind her. "Grab that box and I'll get the board."

It wasn't long before Sam had set up the board on her bed. The two teenagers sat cross-legged on one side of it with a box filled with antique coins sitting right next to Sam's right leg.

"Danny, do you know how this works?" asked Sam, as she looked up at him.

"Erm… yeah, we've done it before," replied Danny.

A strange smile spread across Sam's face momentarily, only to disappear as she checked herself.  
"Yeah, but that was just for fun," she replied. "We weren't really doing it properly." She then delved into the box of coins and fished out four sets of coins, each kept together by a thread of string through the square holes in the middles of each one.

They were Chinese coins, hence the hole, and had been threaded into a sword design.

Sam let shook two of the sets free from her hand and let it drop back into the box. As far as she was concerned, two were enough to ensure there was no interference. However, she looked back at Danny and realised that he was half-ghost too. Was it possible that he would provide interference as well? She looked back down at the coin swords in her hand, the very things that were meant to prevent any old ghost from approaching and giving them a rogue answer.

She sighed and shook her head, as she placed a coin sword at a corner of the Ouija board.  
"Now I know why your Dad started making all those inventions of his," said Sam. "The old ways are so impractical. They can be pretty fun, though." She then picked up the pointer and held it in front of her. "Right," she said. "Danny, listen carefully. This time we do it, I want you to use all your strength in pushing it in any direction you want to see fit.

"Don't have your eyes opened either," she continued. "Have them closed and stop the marker only when you really feel you have to. Whatever you do, don't open your eyes and always keep your mind on the question. Your mind only. You don't ask the question out loud. You think it and meditate on it."

The reason for having the eyes closed was a good one. Sam had read about how researchers found out that people using a Ouija Board tended to guide the marker to spell out words, but when they were blind-folded so they couldn't see what they were doing, the letters they ended up pointing to became random and garbled. If they had their eyes closed and still could end out spelling words or sentences, then they could be definitely sure that their answers came from ghosts and not from themselves.

Danny nodded in acknowledgement.  
"Yeah," he agreed. "Okay, gotcha." He exhaled before saying, "Right." Danny then watched as Sam placed the marker firmly down on the Ouija Board.

Gingerly, Danny reached out towards the wooden block, as if it was a lump of white hot iron and he was afraid of burning himself on it. He gently laid a hand on the marker and felt himself blush from being so close to Sam. The angle at which he was reaching out to the marker brought him in close contact with her and he could feel her body heat against his own. It made him think of auras and possibly how their auras were interacting and mingling and…

"Danny, you okay?" asked Sam, as she looked at the raven-haired youth. "You've gone all red."

"Yeah, I'm fine," replied Danny abruptly. "Can we… can we just do this?"

Sam didn't say anything in reply. She was wondering whether Danny was all right. To say that she was concerned for him was an understatement. She was very worried for him and for the past few nights after she had helped Danny bust out of the Maudsley Institute, she had laid awake at night, never sleeping. She thought that it would have helped if Danny stayed over at her place, but somehow even that didn't seem to comfort her.

"Yeah, okay," she agreed with a slow nod of her head. "Close your eyes, then," she said with a sigh and closed her own eyes too. "You ready?" she asked Danny.

"As I'll ever be," was Danny's reply.

"Let's do this then," said Sam and she cleared her mind so there wouldn't be any thoughts in it. She had to clear it completely, as she knew that her thoughts would probably interfere with those of Danny's. That couldn't happen if they were to get a good answer from the right spirit.

Sam felt a tugging. She felt as if she shouldn't interfere and tug in the opposite direction. She felt as if she should guide the marker towards its position and did that. All her concentration was on the marker and that was all she felt.

It stopped.

Sam opened an eye to peer at what the marker had stopped at.  
"Yes?" she read out aloud, questioningly. She turned round to face Danny and the crimson that had once speckled his cheeks, only a short time ago, was now replaced with a deathly white. "What was your question?"

"So, it's true," Danny muttered to himself, as if he hadn't heard Sam's question. "He is dead." He then looked back down at the board. "I've got another question," he said sternly, before he took one deep breathe and then closed his eyes. "You ready, Sam?"

"Danny, you shouldn't take that first answer too seriously," said Sam calmly. "With this method, there's a huge chance of ghostly interference, especially with you taking part. You are half-ghost after all." She received no reply, but the silence she heard was enough. "Okay, I'm ready," she told Danny, as she closed her eyes.

They repeated the same thing and every time the marker stopped, they opened their eyes to see what letter they had stopped at. It was slow, having to write down the letter one at a time, and then closing their eyes again to redirect the marker. What made it even slower was the constant impulses they had to act on. Sometimes Sam felt as if she had to tug against the marker and pull in the opposite direction that Danny was directing the marker in. Other times, she moved it in the same direction as he did.

Eventually, they came up with something akin to an answer to Danny's question. It had taken them the good part of an hour, but they came up with it.

"That's one talkative ghost," exclaimed Sam, as she looked at the notepad.

"The spelling's real bad too," added Danny.

"There's a few words missing," pointed out Sam, "but that's to be expected with you being half-ghost. After all, your ghost side was interfering with the spirit's ability to channel the message through us." She looked at the words and read it carefully. Her face went paler than it normally was. "Danny, what's going on here?"

Silence followed her question, as if Danny didn't want to explain himself. Yet he knew he had to. Sam was his friend, after all, and he had to tell her sometime. It was the right thing to do, especially if he was to undertake action against those that had did those horrible things to him.

"Ever since I was put under, I've been having this dream about a school," began Danny calmly. "In it… In it, I keep meeting this kid called Alex. He's… I think he used to be a student in this school, where the Maudsley Institute is now." He inhaled deeply and then exhaled as best as he could. "I kept meeting him in my dreams, even the ones I've had for the past few nights. He keeps talking to me, telling me that he needs help getting out."

Danny then glanced back at the notepad and at the words that were scribbled on to it, words describing how Alex's ghost had remained there in the burnt out ruins of the boarding school to the day when the hospital was built over it. He read the words describing how the actions of Zeross and his Blue Bow Army were interfering with Alex's chances of escaping the world of the living and to the world of the dead.

"That mental patient, that doctor… They aren't the only ones who keep calling me _Shou Ge Wang_," continued Danny calmly. "Alex does too. They think I'm some kind of Chieftain or something."

"Of the _Mao Shang_?" asked Sam curiously.

"Yeah," replied Danny with a nod of his head. "He keeps asking me to help him, but I don't know how and I always wake up before he can tell me." He wrapped his arms around himself, as he shivered. Danny could feel cold. He could feel the cold despite being wearing two layers, yet it was not from the cold air around him. That was not why he shivered and that was not why he felt cold.

"I feel so helpless," whispered Danny, but loud enough for Sam to hear. "Alex keeps pleading to me for help, but…" He shook his head. "I can't. I just can't help him." He then looked up, as he felt an arm wrap around him. Danny looked at Sam in surprise. "Sam, what are you…?" he began.

"Shh, it's okay, Danny," said Sam quietly. "It's okay. We're here to help. You can rely on me and you can rely on Tucker. You don't have to do it all alone."

"Can you help, Sam?" asked Danny. "Can you really help?" He heard only silence in reply.

"Let's get some sleep first," Sam told him calmly. "Perhaps, we'll be able to think better about this in the morning."

"Yeah," agreed Danny with a slow nod of his head, "I guess you're right."

* * *

_Red banners hung from the ceiling, a dark entity that couldn't be seen no matter how hard you looked. They were hung haphazardly in the room and all of them were about the same size and pure red with nothing inked on to them and they swayed in a breeze that he couldn't feel._

_Through the billowing banners, he could just about see the two figures on the other side of the room. There was a woman dressed in nothing but white robes that fell down to the floor like a cascade of white water. Her hair was worn in the same fashion and was like black ink flowing from a pot, and it was as black as her face was pale and as her smiling lips were bright red._

_The woman sat there on a humble-looking chair that occupied a small space at the bottom of the judicial bench, that was like the ones in which judges sit a when in court. Yet this one was as black as night and hung over it was a yellow banner with something written on it in red ink in Chinese._

_Sitting there in place of a judge was a man dressed in yellow, silk Oriental robes. He was blindfolded and on the blindfold was painted a few Chinese words in red ink. In the place of the white powder wig that judges wear, this man wore a black hat with two pieces of fabric that curved out from its side and a veil of pearls that hung from the top of the hat to end just above his forehead._

_Danny watched as the raven-haired woman got up and started to walk down the steps of the dais, and she walked in such a way that she seemed to float down the steps towards him. And he couldn't help but feel that she was a ghost and so was the blind-folded man that seemed to stare down at him regardless of the blindfold._

_The raven-haired woman had Oriental features and there was a gentle smile on her face, as of a dream, as she approached him with a Chinese tea cup filled cradled in her hands. She stopped at the base of the steps and then knelt down on her knees, so that she was level with the kneeling Danny. Then with one gesture, she moved the cup towards Danny, offering the dark liquid that resided in it to the young black-haired boy…_

* * *

The images of that dream was still fresh in Danny's mind, as he sat in Sam's Room with his arms leaned against the back of the chair he was seated in. He didn't know what to make of it. Danny didn't know if he should have told Sam, but he thought better of it. Sam didn't need to know about it.

The door opened and Sam returned with Tucker.

"Danny, guess what?" exclaimed Tucker, as he followed Sam in. He received no reply, so he continued, "Last night, I was in the chat rooms when I came across a real live member of the _Mao Shang_!"

"You what?" exclaimed Danny, as he looked up to face his best friend.

"And I managed to arrange a meeting with him too," added Tucker.

Danny stared at Tucker in disbelief and was right to do so.  
"What? I don't get it," he said with a shake of his head. "Tucker, how did you…?" He began, but then thought carefully about whether he wanted to hear about Tucker's exploits on the Internet. "Don't you think it's a bit… well… reckless to just set up a meeting with a complete stranger?"

The smug smile that had been on Tucker's lips didn't fail to leave him. It was almost as if the smile was glued on to his lips.  
"Don't worry," he told Danny. "When have I steered you wrong?" He then realised that he had done so on many occasions, so before both Danny and Sam could reply, he said, "Wait, scratch that. Never mind. Look, it's going to be okay. You're the Shojiwing or whatever they keep calling you. You're their Leader!"

"Huh?"

"Yup, Sam's not the only one with mad researching skillz," said Tucker.

Danny sighed, as he placed a hand against his forehead and leaned into it.  
"First thing's first, it's _Shou Ge Wang_," he told Tucker. "Secondly, Blind Gerald was also a _Mao Shang_ member and he used me like some kind of human meat puppet! I think Fordyce is a _Mao Shang_ too and he tried to turn me into a human vegetable!"

The black-haired youth shook his head.  
"Nope, when it comes to _Mao Shang_, I think I'm better off staying well away," he said. "Well, well away!" he added, as if it could stress his current position on _Mao Shang_.

Sam thought for a while.  
"Yeah, but they really shouldn't be doing that to you," she said for a while. "Maybe… just maybe, the _Mao Shang_ we've been facing are rogue _Mao Shang_, ones that've been kicked out of the _Mao Shang_, maybe." She thought carefully, before saying, "Maybe we should go meet this _Mao Shang_ member. Perhaps he could help us figure out what's going on here."

"Et tu, Sam?" sighed Danny.

"Don't say it like that," protested Sam sharply. "We'll be there to watch your back, won't we, Tuck?"

"We sure will," replied Tucker with a nod of his head, before he turned round and dragged a bag into the room, which then fell open in front of him to reveal lots of gadgets taken from the Fenton Laboratory. "Kind of borrowed these from your parents. Hope they won't mind."

Danny sighed. Once again, it seemed as if fate was against him and he was being dragged into something he clearly didn't want to do. It's just, he never figured that it would be his friends dragging him off into the unknown. They had never done that to him before, except that time with the car battery, the pot of honey and the broom handle smeared with Vaseline, and that was something that Danny preferred not to remember.

Still, Sam and Tucker had promised that they would be there with him and more likely than not, they would be armed with the array of gadgetry that Tucker had 'borrowed' from his parents. Would there be any harm in meeting the _Mao Shang_? More importantly, would he find out what he wanted to know?  
"Okay then," Danny sighed. "Let's get this over with."

* * *

Dr. Michael Fordyce removed his toupee and planted it squarely on the faceless white bust that had once been used to display the toupee in the wig shop. He then walked over to his cabinet, as he delved into his pockets with his left hand and fished out a key, whilst the other hand clenched tightly into a fist. As he approached the cabinet, he hit the side of the wooden panel, making a secret hatch fall open to reveal a metallic door and a lock, in which he placed the key and turned.

Slowly and carefully, Fordyce lowered the metallic hatch and picked out a box and two red candles on which were inscribed Chinese characters in yellow, complete with two candle holders which he placed squarely on his desk. These he lit before he placed the box squarely in front of him and turned round to face the cabinet.

The doctor had almost forgotten one of the most important parts of the ritual. He walked over to the cabinet and opened it up, taking out the bottle shaped like a gourd. It was the one possession he had brought with him over from Hong Kong when he had followed Professor Zeross over, and he had always claimed to visitors that it was a souvenir from the Temple of Ten Thousand Buddhas in Sha Tin Wai, which wasn't in itself an entire lie.

Fordyce walked back to his desk and sat down in the vast leather, placing the bottle down to the side next to the second bust he had bought from the wig shop. He then set about opening the metallic box he had taken out from the secret drawer in his cabinet.

Inside were a brush and a pot that he had filled with a mixture of ink, black dog's blood and chicken blood, a second pot containing some holy water he had stolen from a church, and several oblong sheets of yellow paper. He opened both pots, shoving the box back so he would have room to write and picked up the brush and four pieces of paper.

The doctor, a former _Mao Shang_, dipped his brush in the pot of ink and blood. He then placed the brush to the paper and was then about to write. Fordyce always had trouble remembering what he had to write on the pieces of paper. He scratched his bald scalp, his fingers running across the tattooed skin on which was scarred the image of a green four-leaf clover and a red Chinese character meaning 'sky', as he looked at the blank piece of paper.

Suddenly, he started writing as if inspiration had hit him. He wrote quickly on each piece of paper, writing the same thing first on one sheet, then on the second and then on the third. Fordyce then picked up an individual sheet, which he held over the flame close enough for the ink to dry but far away enough to prevent it from burning. He did the same for all four sheets before dipping his brush into a glass full of water he had provided himself for the purposes of washing the brush.

Next, Fordyce dipped his brush into the pot of holy water and smeared each sheet of paper with water before drying them over the candle again. He then turned the sheets over and near the top of all but one of the four sheets, he smeared more holy water, wetting the dried glue that existed as a strip near the top like in those yellow sticky notes.

Each one of these sheets of paper was then stuck on to a forehead. Two were placed on the foreheads of the inanimate busts and the third was placed on Fordyce's very own forehead. There was no need for him to place one on the gourd bottle, as the incantation had already been carved into its surface. The fourth was for the patient.

A smile spread across Fordyce's face, as he delved into his box and brought out two other objects. One was a Native Indian tobacco pipe and the other was a packet of tobacco that had been mixed with garlic cloves and black dog's blood. It was a noxious mix and Fordyce loathed its taste and the hypocrisy associated with a doctor that smoked, yet it was only for ritualistic purposes and he didn't have to do that very much, only when he hungered…

"Bring him in!" called out Fordyce, as he sat there with the Talisman stuck to his forehead. He took out the stopper from the gourd bottle before he began stuffing the pipe with the tobacco. "Seat him in the chair," he told the two security guards and they did.

The patient that sat in the chair opposite was held in a white straitjacket and was fidgeting uncontrollably. He was also babbling incoherently, his words like an unbroken chain and seemed to grate on the nerves of the two guards, whom both looked just on the verge of snapping themselves.

Fordyce handed them the last Chinese Talisman he had prepared, but not before wetting the sticky patch with holy water.  
"Here, put it on his forehead," he told them and then he waited. "Done yet?" he asked.

"Yes, sir," came the reply.

"Good," said Fordyce with a nod of his head, as he lit the tobacco in the pipe.

The patient that sat in the chair opposite him suffered from multiple personality disorder. When he first came in, he had many but through Fordyce's special rituals, the patient had been reduced to only three. They weren't rogue personalities, you see, made from abnormal electrical impulses in the brain. No, Fordyce quickly figured out that they were ghosts after he had discovered that a compass pointed towards the patient had its pointer deflected abnormally.

"Leave now," ordered Fordyce sternly and he waited calmly for the two security guards to leave.

It was imperative that they did, for they would negate the effects of the two busts he had provided. They were there to confuse the ghosts and the Talismans were there to protect Fordyce, not the busts. The ones on the busts were merely there to give the ghosts the impression that the busts were real people with real personalities, or at least had real personalities inside them.

Reluctantly, Fordyce took a puff from the pipe and nearly chocked on the noxious fumes. He kept it in his lungs for a while, before exhaling and was grateful to be rid of that first lungful of tobacco smoke. Yet the strange garlic and copper taste of the tobacco remained on his tongue and made him shiver in disgust.  
"So, tell me, what's yer name?" asked Fordyce curiously, as he picked out a silver bell from his box, the last of the objects in his box that he had not used.

There was no reply, so Fordyce rung the silver bell forcefully.  
"What is your name?" asked Fordyce sternly. "Tell me or I'll ring the bell again and believe you me, you won't like it." He knew that ghosts couldn't stand the sound of bells, especially church bells, but this little silver bell was the only one available to him. "Your name. Tell me."

"We are Legion," replied the patient from his seat, "for we are many."

"Liar," retorted Fordyce, before he rung the bell again. He took another puff from the pipe and this time, he exhaled the smoke out into the gourd bottle. "What's your name? Are you the James personality or the Frederick personality?" A smile spread across his face, before he asked, "Or are you the Ember personality?" He raised the bell again.

"Stop! Stop!" cried a feminine voice from the male patient. "Yes, you're right. I am her. I am Ember."

Fordyce took another drag from the pipe, as she said her name.  
"Ember?" he said and the smoke poured out from his mouth as he said her name. He placed the pipe down and picked up the gourd bottle, aiming it at the patient.

From behind the Talisman on his face, Fordyce watched as the patient choked and a wreath of smoke from him reeled away from him and snaked its way towards the unstoppered bottle. He watched as the smoke entered and when the last of it was inside, he placed the stopper back into the gourd bottle.

Fordyce was confident that the ghost was now inside the gourd bottle, which he placed firmly on his desk. He removed the Talisman from his face and then placed it firmly over the top of the bottle, as he debated whether to let the ghost mature and marinate or whether to consume it right then and there. He bit his lip, as he thought carefully.

Perhaps it would be better to set the ghost against the _Shou Ge Wang_, Daniel Fenton. Personally, he liked to take care of his enemies by himself. It was O'Donnell that preferred setting ghosts and the undead against his enemies, but Dr. Fordyce wondered whether using this particular ghost against Daniel Fenton would be a much better idea. After all, Zeross had ordered him to find and render Daniel Fenton unconscious.

"What better way of doing it than by introducing a new personality into the little brat?" he wondered out loud. "Yeah, let's see how he likes that!" He grinned.

* * *


	7. Chapter 7: Darkness Foreboding

Author's Note: Please keep spoilers out of the review. If you see something hidden in this text that you think might be relevant to the plot later on, please keep it to yourself so as to not spoil it for those who are less perceptive than you.  
P.S. Some of you may be worried about Danny at the end of this chapter. Don't worry. He's not dead. Everything will be explained in the next chapter.  
P.P.S. Some of you may have noticed the Rectangles in the previous two chapters. Yeah, FFNet kinda screwed up my quotation marks and apostrophes. I'll be going back to fix them. Also, I won't update be updating for a while until I know for sure that FFNet's new "renewal" won't screw up and end up deleting any new updates on my behalf, which has apparently happened before.

* * *

**Chapter Seven: Darkness Foreboding**

"My name is Suimsalp," said the old man, as he sat on the park bench. He then squinted in the light of the morning sun. "You are the Harvest King?"

Danny tried his best to smile but the old man was far too close for comfort and if Danny didn't know better, he'd have thought the old man had something of a crush on him. Thankfully, he did know better and if he didn't, he would have been wrong. At least, he hoped that was the case.  
"Erm, that's what people keep calling me," he said awkwardly and could almost feel the sweat coming down his forehead in sheets, despite that it was so cold that his teeth were chattering.

There was silence as the old man, Suimsalp, he called himself, stared at Danny. It was an awkward silence that seemed to drag out for ages, as if someone had pulled on the fabric of time, stretching it out of shape. What didn't help was the way the old man seemed to stare at Danny.

It felt to the raven-haired youth as if Suimsalp was staring through his eyes at a point somewhere beyond his skull, as if the old man was reading his thoughts or worse, reading his soul.  
"So, you're from the _Mao Shang_?" asked Danny curiously.

"You're the _Shou Ge Wang_," snapped the old man. "You should know." He shook his head. "Still, don't know why an American was made _Shou Ge Wang_. What's wrong with the traditional Chinese _Shou Ge Wang_ we've had up till now?" The old man shook his head again and sighed irritably. "I say it's all the fault of the last _Shou Ge Wang_, _Wai Guoming_. He should never have let those outsiders join."

"Well, Suimsalp doesn't sound much like a Chinese name to me," retorted Danny in a matter-of-fact tone, which earned him a hefty smack on the head with Suimsalp's cane.

"Don't take that tone of voice with me, boy," snapped Suimsalp irritably. "You maybe the _Shou Ge Wang_, chosen by the _Shi Ti'en Yen Wang_, the Ten Lords of Death, but you are still my younger and you whipper-snappers should respect your elders." He shook his head. "It's Confucian Law and the _Shi Ti'en Yen Wang_ would want you to obey the Teachings of all the Three Ways, even if Confucianism is more of a way of life than a religion."

Danny rubbed his head, as he glared at the old man. This was definitely not what he had expected. He had never expected to meet a grizzled old man, let alone expect such a seemingly backwards man to have been on the Internet in the first place.  
"I don't get it," he said, without even thinking. "What were you doing on the Internet?"

"Mah-jong!" exclaimed the old man and he seemed to brighten up as he did so.

Somewhere behind the bushes, Sam turned to stare at Tucker accusingly.  
"You met him on an online Mah-jong game?" she exclaimed in complete disbelief.

"What else is that silly thing good for?" grunted the old man. He then shook his head. "The youth today," he mumbled under his breath. "You're almost as disrespectful as that one outsider… What was his name? Fordyce, I think it was. Disrespectful. Actually consumed the ghosts he exorcised. We _Mao Shang_ don't hold for Ghost Eaters like him."

Danny suddenly went very pale at the very thought of it.  
"Ghost eater?" he exclaimed, and he remembered the voice that had whispered accusingly at him in the garden of Maudsley Institute. He could still remember hearing that voice accusing him of being one and how he could not see the source of the voice anywhere.

The old man looked at Danny in disbelief.  
"You mean to tell me you've never heard of Ghost Eaters?" exclaimed the old man. "What kind of a _Shou Ge Wang_ are you? One of your responsibilities is not just to guide the spirits to First Court of _Feng Du_, but also to protect spirits from Ghost Eaters, those who would inhale ghosts and absorb them."

"Why would they do that?" asked Danny, who was quite sure that he wouldn't like to have a ghost inside him the way he had managed to go inside his Father on so many occasions.

"Why do people smoke and drink?" retorted the old man. "All I knows is that we don't like Ghost Eaters and no _Mao Shang_ can be a Ghost Eater and no Ghost Eater can be _Mao Shang_."

That sort of answered Danny's next question. He already had an idea of how Fordyce could have possibly been kicked out of the _Mao Shang_ Tribe. He wondered. Was it possible that Fordyce wanted to put him under, in revenge against the _Mao Shang_?  
"So, Fordyce wants to eat ghosts," he muttered under his breath, "and I'm getting in his way."

"Eh?" exclaimed Suimsalp. "Fordyce? Michael Fordyce? You mean you've met him?"

"In a way," replied Danny with a slow nod of his head.

Suimsalp regarded Danny with a strange look in his eyes. It was almost a look of admiration, yet something seemed quite strange in those eyes that seemed partially clouded with age.  
"So, you've met him?" he asked again. "How lucky of you to have survived. I hear that he has a grudge against the _Mao Shang_. Wouldn't have surprised me if he'd tried to kill you, what with you being the _Shou Ge Wang_ and all."

"I don't understand," said Danny with a shake of his head. "How did I become _Shou Ge Wang_?"

"The Gods," was Suimsalp's reply. "The _Shi Ti'en Yen Wang_ appointed you."

"Yeah, I know that bit but…" began Danny and then he trailed off. There were two questions in his mind and he wasn't sure which one to ask first. They both seemed equally important to him, yet, Danny couldn't help but feel that at least one of them was redundant. "How do you know I'm the _Shou Ge Wang_?" asked Danny curiously. "How does anyone know I'm the _Shou Ge Wang_?"

The old man looked shiftily around him for a moment, before he then shook his head.  
"The white hair is a start," he said, "but… No! No, no, no!" He shook his bald head. "It doesn't matter. It would be a waste of time for me to tell you. Just know that only those that need to know will know who you are, and if they don't need to know, well, then they won't know, you know? Now I know what're you thinking, but what does it matter if people know who, well, you know, who you are? No, there's no need to know. What can you do if you know who knows and about those that know because they should know?"

Written down, one can carefully pick apart the unnecessary words of what Suimsalp had said and understand what he had said. However, Danny didn't have the benefit of seeing Suimsalp's words written down on paper. He had to listen to the old man drone on about knowing something or another, and was about to ask Suimsalp to repeat himself. But the old man had started up the conversation again.

"Now, I was wondering what is going on here," Suimsalp continued, before Danny could even put a word in edgewise. "The others are worried. They have seen the state of your city and are concerned about its balance, about its Qi." He then set his face into an expression that even a bulldog would have been hard put to emulate, before asking, "Why is the city missing two of its Cardinal Guardians?"

"Excuse me?" exclaimed Danny.

"You know, the Seals of the _Si Ling_," continued the old man. "As _Shou Ge Wang_, aren't you supposed to protect the Seals of the _Si Ling_ as well? They are ghosts too."

Danny shook his head.  
"I don't understand," he told Suimsalp. "What about ceilings?"

"No, not ceilings," said Suimsalp with an irritated shake of his head and his hands. "_Si Ling_. The Four Sacred Animals. Guardians of the Four Cardinal Directions. _Si Ling_." He then stared at Danny, whom stared back at him with a blank expression on his face. Suimsalp sighed.

* * *

O'Donnell stood at the edge of the balcony, looking over towards the Fate Determination Machine. He stared at the concave mirror set on top of the machine on what looked like giant, dark, metallic shoulder pads that capped the top of the glass sphere that was practically the main body of the machine. 

"So, the _Shou Ge Wang_ captured the Wind Ghost?" asked Zeross sternly, as he sat in the wheelchair behind O'Donnell.

"Yes, _Sifu_," was O'Donnell's reply, "yes and no." He turned round to face the old man with a strange smile on his face. "The _Shou Ge Wang_ was careless," he told Professor Zeross with a strange, mischievous light glittering in his black eyes. "He left residual ectoplasm from the Wind Ghost and from a ghost resistant to black dog's blood. All we need are the ghost fragments from the _Si Ling_ of the North and the East, _Gui Xian_ and _Long Wang_, to complete the Life Ghost."

For a while, Zeross didn't say a thing, as if he was in deep thought. He looked as if he was in deep thought, as he sat there with wires and ivy and tubes running in and out from underneath his purple robe. It felt restricting, but he knew that it was necessary for him to stay alive. He needed all that to stay alive and the ivy to keep malicious spirits away from him, ghosts of those that had died in the fire at Streete Court, the fire he had accidentally started.

Ah, the memories of that terrible incident. He did not mean for the fire to start! It was not his intention. How he regretted ever trying to perform that ritual and now… His beloved granddaughter was dead because of his actions. She had been killed by the smoke, not the fire, but still…

Zeross shook his head.  
"Will the Life Ghost be able to operate on the Schumann Resonance Frequency?" he asked O'Donnell curiously. "I hope you have not forgotten that we must utilise the Schumann Resonance, as our machine does."

"I have not forgotten, _Sifu_," replied O'Donnell sternly, as a great expression of seriousness overtook his face. "The Life Ghost will be able to operate on the same frequency as the Fate Determination Machine." He then turned round, looking towards the machine and at the concave mirror, that showed only a vague static like that of an improperly tuned television. "I hear," he began, as a frown appeared on his face, "that you have sent Michael out to try and recapture the _Shou Ge Wang_."

"We must not take chances," replied Zeross.

"No, we mustn't," agreed O'Donnell with an absent-minded nod of his head, and he sounded as if he wasn't concentrating on what Professor Zeross was talking about. Was that the image of a man he saw in the static on the mirrored surface. "Still, _Sifu_, I was pretty hurt to hear that you don't have full faith in my Life Ghost."

O'Donnell turned fully back round. He didn't want to see the image in the mirror and he didn't want Prof. Zeross to see it either.  
"Especially," he added, "as the ghost of your beloved granddaughter will form the basis for the Life Ghost?"

"What?" exclaimed Zeross loudly and angrily, and he nearly rose out of his wheelchair in rage. "You would dare harm my granddaughter like that?"

"I'd like to think of it as an improvement," retorted O'Donnell. "She will be like the Harvest King, but unlike the _Shou Ge Wang_, she will resonate on the Schumann Resonance Frequency and not its antithesis. Your granddaughter will not cancel out the frequencies of our Fate Determination Machine. She will enhance it, like the natural Schumann Resonance of the Earth."

A smile spread across O'Donnell's lips.  
"I assure you that no harm will come to her, Professor," he told Professor Zeross. "On the contrary, she will only benefit from becoming the Life Ghost. Like the current _Shou Ge Wang_, she will be capable of using her half-ghost powers to her own benefit, to keep herself safe from all harm. Still, if you don't want that, I could always find a new base for the Life Ghost."

"No, no," said Zeross with a weary shake of his head. "Forget I said a thing. Do what you must. Just bring my granddaughter back in one piece."

* * *

"So, do you understand?" asked Suimsalp. 

Danny thought about what the old man had told him. He thought about how the approach to every city was guarded in four directions by ghost fragments of the _Si Ling_; _Gui Xian_ the Tortoise in the North, _Qi Lin_ the Tiger in the West, _Long Wang_ the Dragon in the East and _Feng Huang_ the Phoenix in the South.  
"Yeah," replied Danny with a slow nod of his head. "These ghosts act as the _Ch'eng Huang_ in cities where no official has been appointed into that position."

Suimsalp nodded.  
"That's right," he agreed. "Heaven is run by bureaucracy, you see, so things happen very slowly. The appointment of a _Ch'eng Huang_ can take many years."

"And you say we're missing two of the ghost fragments?" asked Danny in disbelief.

"That of _Feng Huang_ and _Qi Lin_," replied Suimsalp with a nod of his head. "I thought you knew that. You are the _Shou Ge Wang_, after all. Didn't you feel that something wasn't right?" He waited for a while. "Well?"

Now that Danny thought about it, he did feel as if something was wrong. It was something other than the biting cold that seemed to penetrate even his thick clothing.  
"Well, I have been having these strange dreams," replied Danny carefully. "It's about…" He trailed off, as if he wasn't sure as to whether he should tell Suimsalp all about Alex. But wasn't that the whole reason for setting up the meeting, so that he could learn more about Fordyce and his cronies and about Alex?

"This guy keeps appearing in my dreams," continued Danny hesitantly, as he brushed his snow white hair backwards. "He keeps calling me Shou Ge Wang and… Well, he keeps calling out to me to help him. And I don't know how. I don't know where to start." He looked at the old man, whom had been nodding to every single word he had said, almost as if he agreed. "Could you… could you help me?"

"It seems," began Suimsalp and then he trailed off. "It would seem…" He stopped abruptly. "Yes, I think…" he began once again, only to trail off. "Yes, it would seem that this person you speak of is dead."

"Yeah, I pretty much knew that already," replied Danny, who had grown pretty impatient thanks to the duration of the pauses between words.

"Go to where he died," said Suimsalp sternly. "Yes, go to where he died. Somewhere there, you will find a way to enter the ghost realm in which he is. From there, guide him to the First Court of _Feng Du_. There and only there, can he meet his destiny and go on to Heaven or descend deeper into the darkest recesses of _Feng Du_." He then smiled toothlessly at Danny. "Unless, of course, you wish to represent him in the First Court against the Judge and King of the First Hell."

Danny rose to his feet.  
"He deserves to be helped the whole way through," said Danny sternly. "Don't you worry. I'll take care of the remaining two ghost fragments and help Alex." He then was whacked on the head again by Suimsalp.

"Foolish boy!" cried Suimsalp, as he rose to his feet and whacked Danny over the head with the cane again. "Never speak the name of a ghost. If you do, you might render him vulnerable to Ghost Eaters." He turned round, shuffling along the ground. "Useless!" he cried, before turning round and glaring at Danny. He hit the white-haired half-ghost for good measure. "I don't know why I bothered to speak to you. Perhaps it is better if I ask for assistance from other _Mao Shang_, than rely on a silly American boy like you."

"Hey! That's no fair!" protested Danny angrily. "I can do it!"

But Suimsalp was shuffling away, mumbling under his breath. He waved his hand dismissively at Danny's comments, before he continued away down the park, making good speed for a man of his age.

"What do you guys think?" asked Danny curiously, as he turned to face the others.

"Why didn't you go intangible on him?" asked Tucker curiously. "Didn't it hurt, having him whack you like a piñata?"

Danny rubbed his sore head, which felt as if the skull had suddenly turned to jelly where Suimsalp had hit him.  
"Yeah," he replied. "That old guy must be a retired baseball player or something. He really had a mean swing." His hand stopped its rubbing motion, as if suddenly frozen, and a frown arched across his eyes as if he had found something on his head that shouldn't have been there. "So," he began, as the frown disappeared from his face, "what do you guys think I should do?"

"You're not thinking of going back to the Hospital are you?" asked Sam worriedly. "I mean, you'd be walking straight back into the lion's den." She then shuddered at the thought of what the doctors there would end up doing to him. "You're not going back there, right?" she asked him and was disheartened when he didn't reply right away. "Danny, you can't!" she protested.

"I have to, Sam," retorted Danny with a shake of his head. "I can't ignore him. He asked me for help. I can't abandon him when he needs me the most; it would be like you abandoning me when I needed you the most." He turned round, facing in the direction of the Roslyn Hospital and was about to take off, when a hand grabbed his. Danny turned round. "Sam?" he exclaimed questioningly.

There was something in Sam's eyes. It was an expression of concern and as Danny looked into those lavender eyes of hers, he couldn't help but feel as if… Just by looking into those eyes of Sam's, Danny could tell that she cared for him. She cared for him as a friend and she cared for him as a… No. Maybe he was reading too much into the look she gave him.  
"Sam, I have to go," he told her.

"I know," replied Sam with a slow nod of her head. "But you can't go by your own, Danny. We'll come with."

"Sam's right," agreed Tucker. "You have no way of defending yourself against these _Mao Shang_ rejects. With us there, we'll be able to watch your back, 'til you can get Alex out." He then said, "But we've got to make preparations, you know. Why don't we wait until tomorrow? We can storm the place in the early hours of the morning. They won't be expecting us then."

Sam frowned.  
"Why, Tucker, what's gotten into you?" she asked her capped friend. "It isn't like you to make good suggestions."

"What? It is too!" protested Tucker angrily.

"Oh, yeah?" exclaimed Sam. "Name one good suggestion you've ever made." And her question was met with a raging silence in which Tucker could only fume and feel his anger dissipate. "Yeah, thought that as much," she said in reply to his lack of reply.

Danny exhaled heavily through grated teeth.  
"Guys, I hope you won't be doing this when I sneak into Roslyn," he sighed. The last thing he wanted was for their bickering to jeopardise his little mission, the way Tucker normally mucked things up. He certainly didn't want to end up being caught by the doctors that worked there, the doctors that might have been working for Fordyce himself.

It wasn't that he worried about what the doctors would do to him. Danny was far more concerned of what would happen if he failed to rescue Alex from whatever dimensional rift he had been caught inside. He was the _Shou Ge Wang_, after all. If he failed to rescue Alex, then who would rise up to take his place as Harvest King and guide Alex away from the purgatory that the doctors' had intentionally or maybe unintentionally created for him?

He looked around him and when he was satisfied that no one was around save for his friends, Danny turned back into his human form in a flash of light.  
"Come on, let's get going," he said to the others, as he tightened the scarf around his neck. "You guys are right about coming with, but I think we should go tonight. The sooner we get Alex out of there, the better."

Tucker blinked once and then remained completely still. He watched as Danny slowly made his way down the garden path, his hands shoved into his pockets. Tucker couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he couldn't help but feel as if there was something strange about the way Danny had talked then. It was almost as if it was a different Danny that had spoken to them, that had decreed that they would sneak into Roslyn at night without even asking them whether they approved.

"Hey, Danny!" he called out, before running after his black-haired friend. "Wait up!"

* * *

"Fenton Works!" announced Daniel's father, as he picked up the phone. "If it's ghosts, then we catch 'em, bag 'em and… er… Well, ghosts don't stand a chance against us. This is Jack Fenton. What ghost can I bust for you?" He then remained silent, as the person on the other end started to talk to him. "Oh, Professor Zeross!" he exclaimed. "Yeah, I've got them ready for you." 

Jack Fenton turned to face the large number of crates that had taken up the kitchen that morning.  
"Yep," he said with a nod of his head. "That's all one hundred Fenton Ghost Peelers, fifty Fenton Ghost Grabbers, thirty Fenton Ghost Grapplers, one hundred twenty Fenton Ghost Phones, one hundred Fenton Thermos Flasks and five Fenton Foamers." He sighed. "It wasn't easy making them all, but… Yeah, they're all here and ready for shipping out!"

A smile then spread across his lips.  
"So, what do you want them for?" he asked curiously. "Fighting against a Ghost Army? Ha!" The smile slowly spread across his lips. "Fine, fine," he sighed irritably. "I'll have them delivered… You're coming to pick them up? Someone's coming to pick them up for you? Oh, okay then… Well, what time? Now?"

The doorbell rang suddenly.

"That was quick!"

* * *

"This doesn't feel right," whispered Tucker, as he readjusted his black ski mask. "Wouldn't they be expecting us? I'm sure security here must be tougher than it used to be." 

Sam didn't say a word in reply to Tucker, partially because he was stating the obvious. She too knew that Fordyce would have increased security at Roslyn, all to ensure that they wouldn't get back in. She was sure that there was a reason in keeping them out, a reason that was kept secret to everyone except Fordyce and his closest allies within the Hospital. But what was it and what would the patients think, if they ever found out they were funding Fordyce's sordid schemes? What exactly was Blue Bow up to?

They say that curiosity killed the cat. Sam wasn't sure what Fordyce was up to in that hospital of his, but she was sure that a lack of curiosity was the problem and that that lack would end up in something worse than their deaths. She wondered how curious Tucker was and how much that curiosity was quelling his own fears. It didn't seem that he was very excited about finding out what Fordyce's group was up to within the Hospital.

In fact, it seemed as if Tucker was only there because he felt he had to be there to support his best friend. Loyalty and friendship were his reasons, but there was no added curiosity like there was in Sam. Perhaps it was that curiosity which made Sam less afraid than Tucker. Being loyal and a friend to Danny were enough, but that added curiosity as to what Fordyce was up to, perhaps that was what tipped the balance in favour of courage.

"You ready, Danny?" asked Sam through the earpiece she had been given.

"As ready as I can ever be."

Sam nodded.  
"Good," she said, as she raised a pair of night vision binoculars to her eyes. She knew that they couldn't be too sure, as she scanned the area around the hospital for clues. "All right, the coast is clear. Let's go."

Under the cover of darkness, the three of them moved out from the bushes. With Danny's help, they moved unseen and invisible, walking through the fence that surrounded the Roslyn Hospital Complex and moving in a straight beeline for the Maudsley Institute.

Danny wondered for how long he could keep up their intangibility. Being invisible and intangible himself was one thing, but transferring his powers to more than one person? He could already feel fatigue.  
"We gotta stop," he told them in a hushed voice. "I'm not sure how much longer I can take this."

"Fine, let's stop in those bushes over there," agreed Sam.

* * *

"Sir! We've got a breach of the perimeters!" 

Fordyce turned round with a frown on his face, as he walked up to the security guard.  
"A breach?" he exclaimed in surprise. "What in tarnation do you mean by that, soldier?" He grabbed the back of the seat and swivelled it round, plucking the security guard up by the lapels of his uniform. "Tell me, boy. What broke through our perimeters?"

"I'm not sure, sir," was the reply from the security guard. "It seemed like a ghost, but… but something's strange about the way its resonating."

"Strange?" exclaimed Fordyce angrily. "What's so strange about its resonance. What's so strange about it, boy?"

"The amplitudes, sir."

The Earth's electromagnetic field resonates on the Schumann Resonance Frequency, first measured by W. O. Schumann. The fundamental base figure, as obtained from an average of several measurements, was always given as 7.38 Hertz but could fall into a range from six to fifty Hertz. Ghosts, being made from ectoplasm and electromagnetic disturbances, resonated on a frequency of approximately six times the base figure, mostly cited as 42 Hertz.

The Fate Determination Machine ran on the same frequency as that of ghosts from the Ghost Zone. The problem was that the Machine used a small Ghost Portal to prevent ghosts from escaping into the machine and interfering with its functions. A small portal meant the Schumann Resonance Waves or SR Waves as the Blue Bow scientists liked to call them, diffracted, spreading out like a fan. The design of the machine meant that waves that spread out like a fan reflect off the surfaces and rebound and cause interference or noise.

That was where the _Shou Ge Wang_ or Harvest King came in. His brain activities resonated on the Schumann Resonance Frequency too, but at a different phase. The phase was exactly displaced by one-half, so that the crests of the Harvest King's SR Wave (if overlaid on top of a SR Wave from a ghost or that of the Earth) corresponded with the trough of a ghost SR Wave.

It is like a piece of ground where there are hills and valleys alternating one after another; a hill followed by a valley, followed by a hill, followed by valley and so forth. If you shift the hills into the valleys, you get rid of both the hills and the valleys, creating nice level ground and getting rid of the wave pattern that the rise of the hills and the drop of the valleys created.

That only works if the earth that makes up the hills, is the exact amount of earth that is needed to fill in a valley. In the case of electromagnetic waves, amplitude affects the height and therefore the depth of the 'hills' and 'valleys' that make up the wave. The Harvest King's amplitude was exactly the same as that of the waves the Fate Determination Machine ran on.

"Take a look for yourself, sir," was the reply from the security guard, before he gave Dr. Fordyce the hand out.

"Well, I can't make head nor tail out of this trash," cried Fordyce angrily, as he let go of the security guard. "Where are the labels for the axes? You call this a graph? An untrained monkey could make a better graph than this! Why didn't you add the labels, boy?" He then frowned. "Wait!" he exclaimed. "That…" He thought for a while. "Never mind. Just scan the area with a UV Spotlight. If there is a ghost there, his ectoplasm will glow like the Sun!"

* * *

"Danny! You're glowing!" cried Tucker. 

Danny looked down at himself and indeed, he was glowing. He was glowing with the same eerie glow that his eyes did and it was making him stand out within the darkened shrubs like a sore thumb that had been painted bright fluorescent pink and yellow.  
"This ain't good," he said worriedly.

"We better get out of here," said Sam concernedly. She was all for trying to find out Blue Bow's plans, but she certainly wasn't going to do it at the expense of their lives.

"Easier said than done," exclaimed Tucker, as he peered out of the bushes. "There's like an army out there!"

"Guess that explains why they're called the Blue Bow Army," said Danny, as he brushed a branch aside to look out. He noticed that they seemed to be coming towards them from one direction only. If they acted right then, there was a possibility that they could escape. "It seems as if they're all coming from the hospital. If I distract them, you guys can make a break for it."

"What? No way!" protested Sam. "We can't leave you!"

"Sam's right!" agreed Tucker with a nod of his head. "We need you to make us invisible and fly us out of here!"

"That's not what I meant," said Sam, as she turned round to glare at Tucker angrily through narrowed eyes. "Danny, this is the Blue Bow Army we're talking about. Who knows what kind of anti-ghost techniques they have? I mean, Fordyce and his cronies were _Mao Shang_, remember? They could take you down faster than you could blink."

Danny had to admit that Sam did have a point. This was possibly going to be the toughest fight he would ever have to face against. He was up against a whole army of ghost hunters, not just the one. There was a possibility that he wouldn't come out of it in one piece or worse.  
"I have to do this, Sam," he told her. "I can't just let you get caught up in all of this. Tucker, take care of Sam and get the Heck out of here."

"Danny, we came with so we could look after your back," retorted Sam angrily. "We came so we could protect you against the ghost hunters. And…" She was suddenly interrupted by a plasma shot that nearly took off her left ear.

"Go! Get out of here!" shouted Danny sternly, before he flew right out of the bush and straight at the advancing Blue Bow Soldiers.

"Danny!" cried Sam, as she tried to grab him, but failed.

Her words fell on deaf ears. Danny didn't hear her as he flew straight towards the soldiers. All he could hear was the blood pumping through his half-ghost body. All he could feel were the thoughts that flooded his mind, that made his body tense up with fear and that made him wish that he had been more careful in his parents' lab. He was scared and he wasn't even facing ghosts this time round.

Blue Bow Soldiers were the first to fire a shot.

Danny became intangible, letting the plasma shot go straight through him. He looked down at the masses of them. There were about fifty of them and there was that spotlight that swept its light across the sky to scan for him. He knew that he didn't have a fighting chance. They would overwhelm him for sure, but he had to keep them distracted long enough for Sam and Tucker to escape.

A green glow appeared in Danny's hands. He summoned all his strength and fired an ectoplasmic beam of energy straight down at the soldiers, watching them scatter and dodge it. Danny dodged another few shots fired from the ground, before returning puny little shots of ectoplasmic energy that he aimed at the soldiers.

Something suddenly struck Danny in the chest and he was knocked out of the sky. He fell like a stone towards the grassy ground, spiralling down like a wounded dove only to strike the ground with a heavy thud with such force that he bounced off it once and crashed down on the ground again.

A normal human being would not have survived that fall without suffering some injuries. Yet Danny was not human and being half-ghost, all he felt was a mind numbing pain that he never thought possible.

He looked up and saw the soldiers advance.

"Stay away!" cried Danny, before firing a random shot at the incoming ghost hunters.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed him roughly and pulled him off the ground. An arm wrapped itself around his neck and held him tightly against the body it belonged to. It was a tight hold and nothing Danny could do could let him break free. He tried becoming intangible and walking through the man that held him from behind, but found it impossible.

"Don't struggle, boy," drawled a familiar voice from behind him. "You can't walk through me. There ain't no way you can escape this time, _Shou Ge Wang_." Then Fordyce pressed a needle against Danny's arm and jabbed it in forcefully. "Let's see how you like a taste of this!"

"No, get off," hissed Danny angrily, as he struggled against Dr. Fordyce's grip.

"You can't win against the Blue Bow Army," chuckled Fordyce, whispering his words into Danny's ear. "Soon, we will control the Kingdom of Death and we will achieve what no doctor before has been able to. We'll become like Gods!"

Danny couldn't stand it. He had to break free. He had to, in order to stop the Blue Bow Army and for the sake of his friends. He had to break free, regardless of what Fordyce had shoved into his blood system.  
"I said, 'Get off'!" screamed Danny, before emitting a powerful blast of energy that radiated from his body and resonated at a high frequency that blasted the soldiers off their feet and knocked Fordyce backwards.

Then there was Alex. Yes, Danny couldn't forsake Alex. He had to find a way to free Alex from the purgatory these Blue Bow maniacs had managed to put him in.

With a huge battle cry that was more of a scream of rage, Danny rushed straight at the Blue Bow Soldiers with fists clenched tightly. He rushed straight into them, kicking and punching, dashing his fists against them and fighting his way through the crowd of fifty ghost hunters.

It didn't matter that his vision was blurring. It didn't matter that he felt his limbs weakening. It didn't matter that he seemed to be hearing voices in his head, voices that did not belong to him, voices that didn't seem to belong to Sam or Tucker. He just kept fighting, punching and kicking at the soldiers and knocking them down with blasts of ectoplasmic energy. He was as good as captured, yet still he fought to the very end.

* * *

Sam and Tucker turned to look back towards the Roslyn Hospital. 

"We've got to go back," said Sam with concern. "We can't just leave Danny behind like that."

Tucker agreed. Normally, he would have agreed, but the very thought of having to fight against human opponents that could harm them… Fear gripped him. It was that fear that made him feel so impotent against the forces of the Blue Bow Army.  
"Yeah, but if we go now, we'll be captured," he reminded Sam, and he never thought that he would be the one to point that out to Sam.

"You're right," sighed Sam with a slow nod of her head, "but we've got to do something." She raised her gaze to look back at the hospital, at the lights that came from the Maudsley Institute, at the lights that came from the main hospital building and at the lights that illuminated Arcadia Tower. "We've got to come up with a rescue plan."

"Yeah," agreed Tucker with a nod of his head, and he left it at that.

Sam didn't want to leave Danny behind. She knew that Tucker didn't want to either. They were all best friends, after all, and best friends just don't leave best friends behind. Yet what could they do? How could they fight against the Blue Bow Army?  
"We'd better go," she said, worried that Blue Bow would send out guards to search for them.

"Hang in there, Danny. We'll be back for you, man."

* * *

The moon was full and shone brightly, illuminating Danny's way as he floated unsteadily across the ground. 

Danny seemed to stumble in the air and then collapsed to the ground, onto his hands and knees. He felt so tired and exhausted, after fighting his way past all those Blue Bow soldiers, the security guards for the Roslyn Hospital Complex. Yet he knew he had to keep moving. If he didn't, they would follow him and find him and capture him. That was not what he wanted. That was not something that he could allow.

Yet his surroundings seemed to be blurring before his very eyes. Despite the glow of the moon, everything seemed to be getting gradually darker with every passing moment. He was slowly losing consciousness. He knew that he was slowly being edged out of consciousness by a powerful new entity, a strange thing that now resided inside him and seemed to consume his very inside with a blazing fire of rage.

"You owe me a favour," whispered a voice that seemed to echo around Danny. "Will you honour your promise now?"

Danny ignored the voice, as he staggered up to his feet. He had to keep moving and as he stumbled through the darkness almost drunkenly, he did not notice the red curtains in front of him that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. He didn't even notice, as he stumbled through them.

Red banners hung from the ceiling, a dark entity that couldn't be seen no matter how hard you looked. They were hung haphazardly in the room and all of them were about the same size and pure red with nothing inked on to them and they swayed in a breeze that he couldn't feel.

Danny staggered past them, brushing them aside as he went. He felt as if he had been wounded badly and his right side felt as if someone had stabbed him there and twisted the knife blade. It was a numbing pain that he chose to ignore, as he stumbled past the banners, wondering where he could be.

Through the billowing banners, he could just about see the two figures on the other side of the room. There was a woman dressed in nothing but white robes that fell down to the floor like a cascade of white water. Her hair was worn in the same fashion and was like black ink flowing from a pot, and it was as black as her face was pale and as her smiling lips were bright red.

The woman sat there on a humble-looking chair that occupied a small space at the bottom of the judicial bench, that was like the ones in which judges sit a when in court. Yet this one was as black as night and hung over it was a yellow banner with something written on it in red ink in Chinese.

Sitting there in place of a judge was a man dressed in yellow, silk Oriental robes. He was blindfolded and on the blindfold was painted a few Chinese words in red ink. In the place of the white powder wig that judges wear, this man wore a black hat with two pieces of fabric that curved out from its side and a veil of pearls that hung from the top of the hat to end just above his forehead.

The pain in his side, in his entire body suddenly became unbearable. Danny couldn't take it anymore. His legs felt like rubber and the more he tried to stand up, the harder it became. Just moving felt difficult, as if the air itself was as thick as quicksand. He suddenly fell back down to the ground, finding himself unable to stand up anymore.

"Daniel Fenton."

Danny looked up and in doing so, he saw the raven-haired woman get up. He watched, as she walked down the steps of the dais, walking straight towards him in a manner that made it seem as if she was floating down the steps towards him. And he couldn't help but feel that she was a ghost and so was the blind-folded man that seemed to stare down at him regardless of the blindfold.

The raven-haired woman had Oriental features and there was a gentle smile on her face, as of a dream, as she approached him with a Chinese tea cup filled cradled in her hands. She stopped at the base of the steps and then knelt down on her knees, so that she was level with the kneeling Danny. Then with one gesture, she moved the cup towards Danny, offering the dark liquid that resided in it to the young black-haired boy.

"Drink. Take the drink Lady _Meng Po_ offers you."

Slowly, Danny took the cup into his gloved hands. He looked up at the woman and she smiled at him.

"Drink and forget your troubles."

The liquid looked inviting and though it smelt bitter, Danny couldn't help but feel enticed to drink it. There was something very welcoming about it. Danny didn't know what it was, but it was like he had been handed a hot cup of cocoa after fighting through an Arctic storm for days on end.  
"There must be a catch," he tried to say, but the words didn't seem to want to come out.

"Drink and forget everything."

"Even my friends?" asked Danny, as he looked up at her. "I can't forget my friends." He then looked back down away from her gaze, which seemed to bore into him and stare at his soul. He tore his gaze away from her and down towards the cup in his hands and the warm liquid that looked so much like tea. "I do need something to drink though," he muttered under his breath. "And I would like to be rid of those memories…"

Danny shook his head. There was something about the fumes that the tea gave off. Its smell was intoxicating and the more he smelt it, the more he seemed… the more he seemed… Danny could swear that he had made a promise to someone, a promise to free them from somewhere… He couldn't remember where or when or to whom, though.  
"I don't want to be _Shou Ge Wang_ anymore," he said to himself, as he raised the cup to his lips and drank from it. "I don't want to be half-ghost anymore."

* * *


	8. Chapter 8: Don't Forget Me

Author's Note: Since this chapter and Chapter Nine are so short, I've decided to upload them on the same day. I hope you enjoy them both.

* * *

**Chapter Eight: Don't Forget Me**

"I don't understand," said Sam with a shake of her head. "This can't be right!" She looked down at the book and then at the numbers she had written down. "I can't find out where Danny is. It's almost, it's almost as if he isn't in this world anymore."

Tucker seemed concerned, as he sat cross-legged opposite Sam.  
"Come on, Sam," he said. "You can't trust a couple of coins to find Danny," he said, but he didn't sound very convinced. He wanted to not believe what Sam had come up with, but her recent divination attempts had proved to be flawless. "You never used to believe in this sort of thing before."

Sam had always been very logical. She had always been intelligent and rational, thinking things through. One of the things she had never believed in was astrology and divination, though she knew about it and knew much about it. Though sometimes she practised at it, it was all for fun and she never took the answers seriously.

"No, I never did," replied Sam in agreement.

Sure, there were the times when she couldn't decide on what to do and used the divination attempts to decide for her. Yet, she had only done that for unimportant decisions, not the regular day unimportant decisions, but larger ones like whether to tell Danny how she really felt about him.

"But it works so well now," said Sam quietly. "Almost, it's almost as if someone out there is making it work." She wondered and then remembered what Danny had told her, about this kid he had met called Alex, and how the Blue Bow Army's actions had somehow trapped him. "Come to think of it, this only started when the Blue Bow took over the Roslyn Hospital."

One day, the Blue Bow Group came into town and took over the running of the Roslyn Hospital. They had changed the hospital and somehow managed to increase funding. Before they had come along, Roslyn had been a failing hospital and was on the verge of being closed down. Yet with Blue Bow's arrival, money flooded into it, a tower rose up to the north of the hospital building and the ruins of the old boarding school were transformed into the Maudsley Institute.

Sam sighed, as she turned to look at the calendar that hung from the wall. It had been four weeks since their failed attempt to sneak into the Roslyn Hospital, to liberate the ghost of Alex.

"It's almost a month now," she said. "I wonder how Jazz and the rest of Danny's family has been coping?"

"I'd imagine they're still upset," said Tucker.

"Yeah," agreed Sam quietly. "They would be, wouldn't they?"

* * *

The red-haired girl made her way along the path slowly, her sight more focused on the pristine white paving slabs of the sidewalk than as to where she was going.

Jazz couldn't help but feel sad. How could she feel anything but sad, now that her brother had gone? The way he had just disappeared without a trace… That was possibly the hardest thing for her to believe. What she wouldn't give to find her brother again, alive and well. She would give her soul for her brother, for young Daniel Fenton, so that he could return to his family.

Her parents were acting even more remote than they used to. Both started drowning themselves in their own work, forgetting about personal hygiene and even their daughter. The world was nothing to them. The world was nothing more than their work. It was almost as if they had forgotten the world outside, the way they continued to work regardless, round the clock, as if sleep was nothing.

That was their own way of coping with the sadness. That was their way of coping with losing their beloved son, by trying not to think about it. But Jazz knew that they missed him. Whenever they did sleep, she could hear her mother crying in her bedroom, crying herself to sleep.

Did Danny know how much they missed him? Did he know how much they loved him? Did he disappear, alone and sad and feeling unloved? Did he lose his…?

'No', thought Jazz, 'I can't think like that!' She couldn't let herself drown in sorrow. Jazz knew that she had to be brave, if not for herself, then for her parents. They had to continue on with their lives and carry on, in the belief that Danny would be found again and that he would be found alive and well. She couldn't dwell on the negative, on the possibility that Danny had lost his life.

Yet, it was very possible. Danny did, after all, have strange super powers that she didn't understand, that he must have somehow got from the accident in their parents' lab. Jazz knew how Danny used those super powers to battle ghostly forces and how his powers had gotten him into hospital not too long ago. Danny could have died; it was a very grave possibility.

"Danny?" exclaimed Jazz in surprise, as she stopped in her tracks. "Danny?"

That black-haired youth that disappeared into the crowd ahead looked so much like her little brother. Surely that was him? He was dressed pretty much like her brother would normally dress and the expression on his face was the same haunted and tired expression that normally adorned Danny's face.

"Danny!" called out Jazz, as she rushed towards the crowd. "Danny, over here!" She tried to make her way through the crowd. "Excuse me," she said, as she edged her way past. "Danny!" she cried out. "Danny! It's me, Jazz!" She could still see her brother moving his way through the crowd, yet he seemed to be getting away from her. "Please, get out of my way!" she nearly shouted at a nearby pedestrian, as she shoved her way past. "Danny!"

Beyond the crowd, the dark-haired youth had already made his way through and was walking with a blonde-haired woman towards the bus stop at the other end of the train station. They were getting impossibly far away and as Jazz tried to fight her way through the rush hour crowd, she found herself getting further and further away from the child that looked so much like her young brother.

"Danny!"

* * *

Sam felt strange riding on Tucker's scooter, holding on to him tight as they spluttered along the sidewalk towards the hotel room Suimsalp was staying in. She had done it many times before, but this time just felt strange. She didn't know why either. It was almost felt as if she had been forced to travel this way, even though it was of her own accord.

What was it about the light that played on Tucker's face. He never looked so dominating before, yet now he looked positively in charge.

"What's wrong with me?" wondered Sam with a shake of her head. "I don't feel myself."

A sigh escaped her lips, as she looked around her. The world seemed so bright, even though it was so cold and the air seemed so stagnant. What was it about that day that seemed so different, asides from the fact that Danny was missing? Why was it that the world seemed to be carrying on as if nothing had happened? Didn't they feel Danny's loss too? After all, was he not the _Shou Ge Wang_?

"Danny?"

"Huh? What was that?" asked Tucker, as he slowed the scooter down and turned to face Sam.

Sam was looking backwards at the bus that had just passed them, with a faint expression on her face.  
"I thought," she began, only to trail off. Had she seen Danny sitting in that bus as it passed them or was it someone that just looked like him? Was it even someone that looked like him? "It's nothing," she said with a shake of her head. "I guess… I guess I was just seeing things."

Tucker frowned. Sam seeing things? Did he hear right? He was sure that Sam never saw something that wasn't there. She seemed far too level headed to let anything make her see things that weren't there.  
"Oh, okay," he said in reply to her comment, not that one was needed. He just felt as if he needed to balance out the conversation, which seemed one-sided to him.

"Are we nearly there, yet?" asked Sam impatiently.

"I think so," was Tucker's reply, as he stopped the scooter at the corner underneath a blue-green signpost. "Let me just check the PDA." He reached back to reach into his backpack, only for Sam to shove it into his hand. "Thanks," he said brightly, before he scrolled through the options on the PDA and opened up the file containing the map. He made a noise of disapproval and then looked up at the sign and then around him. "We're nearly there. It's just 'round this corner and a few blocks down."

He handed the PDA back to Sam, whom shoved it into his backpack. Then he grabbed the handles of the scooter, started it up and turned round the corner. Tucker guided the sleek vehicle down the sidewalk, counting the blocks as they passed by.

"Ew, that's a hotel?" exclaimed Sam, as they came across a run-down block of apartments with a boarded-up windows and with a brick face that looked as if it had seen numerous fires. "I don't think squatters would even want to live there." She let go of Tucker and stepped off the scooter. Sam looked up the street then down it and then across to the other side. "You sure you got the right place?" asked Sam curiously.

"Thirty-seven Terrace Street?" exclaimed Tucker, as he looked at the number. "Nope. This is definitely the place."

"Must be a motel then," said Sam, as Tucker folded the scooter. She couldn't help but wrinkle her nose, as a strange but nauseating smell wafted in from the air in the general direction of their destination. "And I thought that Stink Ghost last month smelt bad." She sighed. "Come on, then, Tuck. Let's get a move on."

The two of them walked side by side up the steps of the building towards the battered-looking door that served as the front entrance. It was open, leading into a hallway that smelt of overcooked cabbage, peeling paint, cracked walls, cracked ceiling and with an ancient carpet that looked as if it had been exposed to the rain for seventy years. The entire length of the corridor seemed to be plunged into darkness, which wasn't helped by a grimy light bulb that struggled to shine through the layer of grime that coated it.

"Welcome to Scum Land," murmured Sam under her breath, as she stepped over the threshold. "So, which room is he in?"

"Wait a minute," said Tucker, as he delved into his pocket and brought out a scrap of paper. He read it carefully. "Room 07." He looked around him and then saw the reception desk set into the wall. "Hang on," he told Sam, before he walked up to it and peered over the desk. There didn't seem to be anyone around. "Hello!" he called out. "Anyone here?"

Sam laid a hand on Tucker's shoulder.  
"Forget that," she told him. "It'd probably be quicker if we find the place ourselves. Now come on." Her grip tightened on Tucker, before she dragged him away from the reception desk.

The rest of the motel didn't seem rather appetising either. Just walking through it made Sam want to never step foot in her own house with her current boots on ever again. In fact, even though she hadn't touched anything, she still felt as if she needed ten consecutive baths just to get the grime off her skin and even then, she'd need a few more baths and to mask herself in perfume to rid herself of the smell of overcooked cabbage.

"See?" said Sam, as she stopped at one particular door. "It wasn't that hard to find."

Tucker turned to look at the door. He was about to ask how Sam knew that that particular door was the one that belonged to the room Suimsalp was staying in, when he noticed the an area of the door that was cleaner than the rest, in the shape of what once must have been the room number that adorned it.  
"Oh yeah," he said, trying not to sound very impressed by Sam's room finding skills.

He reached out himself and knocked on the door.  
"Hello! Mr. Suimsalp!" he called out. "Hello! Is anyone in there?" Tucker waited a while. "It's me, T Man!"

"You called yourself, T Man?" asked Sam. "On the forums?"

"Well, Mr. T was taken," said Tucker in explanation.

There was something like a flash of light behind the doors. It flickered bright white, such a brilliant white that had a tint of blue in it, and seeped through the edges of the door, underneath it and above it and to its side and past the hinges. It was a strange light and soon as it had appeared, it subsided.

The door opened by a crack and someone peered out from behind it.  
"Oh, it's you children," exclaimed the old man. "What do you want?"

"Please, Mr. Suimsalp, we need to talk to you," said Sam, as she shoved Tucker out of the way. "It's about D…" She was about to call him by his first name, but decided not to. "It's about the _Shou Ge Wang_. I think he's missing."

From behind the door, the old man sneered.  
"Huh, of course he is," said Suimsalp in a tone of voice that suggested that everyone knew that particular fact. "But the rest of the _Mao Shang_ are being stubborn. They won't even ask the _Shi Ti'en Yen Wang_ to appoint a new _Shou Ge Wang_." He sighed. "If you don't mind, I don't want to talk about it." He then attempted to close the door.

Sam was too quick for him, however, and quickly slammed her hand against the door, pushing against it and keeping it open as much as possible.  
"Please, Mr. Suimsalp, you've got to help us," she pleaded. "We need you to help us find him."

"Find him?" exclaimed Suimsalp. "Why should I help him? He's not Chinese. He should never have been the _Shou Ge Wang_. I say good riddance. We need a new _Shou Ge Wang_, anyway."

"Hey! That's harsh!" protested Tucker angrily.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that, old man," said Sam in a threatening manner. "Now open the door and let us in." She suddenly realised that threatening Suimsalp would do her no good. What she needed was a new plan of action, something that would guarantee his aide, but what would that be? "Or do you think the Seals of the _Si Ling_ will stay safe for much longer without the _Shou Ge Wang_ there to protect them? And what about all those ghosts that are hanging around here instead of passing on to the other side? Don't you think there's a reason the _Shi Ti'en Yen Wang_ chose the _Shou Ge Wang_ to be an American? What would they think if they knew you weren't doing your duty by keeping your allegiance to the _Shou Ge Wang_?"

The door suddenly slammed shut, despite the pressure Sam applied to it in the opposite direction. There was suddenly the sound of a chain being moved before the door was opened once more, by a very irritated looking Suimsalp.  
"Come in," he said reluctantly. "I don't know what the youth of today are coming to," he muttered under his breath as Sam and Tucker walked in.

"So, to what do I owe this visit?" asked Suimsalp, as he closed the door after them. "Can't an old man get some peace and quiet anymore?" He ushered them past the bathroom and into the small bedroom that looked as if it had been hit by a tornado. "Yes, I know you said you wanted to find the Shou Ge Wang," he said irritably before they could even say a word, "but what do you think you can do? Why bother me about it?"

"You're the only _Mao Shang_ we can talk to," was Sam's reply, as she picked her way through the carpet, which crunched underfoot. "The others are either homicidal maniacs or locked up in a mental institute." She suddenly noticed that the room itself must have looked like this before Suimsalp booked it, as she noted that his clothes and his possessions were all neatly tidied away on one neatly made bed.

"Although if we knew your place was such a dump, we would have invited you to some café or ice cream parlour," admitted Tucker.

"Well, that's why I insisted on meeting your _Shou Ge Wang_ in the park," explained Suimsalp irritably. "It's not my fault this place is a dump. It was like this when I got here and I'm not paying for the privilege of cleaning the place up for them." He shook his head. "Insolent young whipper-snappers. Treating an old man like this. Giving him the shoddiest room in the entire motel."

"Look, can you help us or not?" asked Sam and she sounded as if she was trying her best to keep her anger in check.

"I'd love to," was Suimsalp's reply, "but I seriously doubt you young 'uns would be able to do much."

Tucker wondered about Suimsalp for a moment. This old man was giving off the same vibes that Technus gave off. No, not ghostly vibes. It was the same 'old-man-trying-to-seem-young' gig that seemed to be Technus' one defining characteristic. Suimsalp was one of those who refused to acknowledge that he was old and out of date, just like Technus did. He wondered. Could he use that to his advantage? Could he somehow convince Suimsalp to help them through?

A smile spread across Tucker's lips.  
"Yeah, I thought that as much," he said in reply to Suimsalp's words. "You can't help us because you can't."

"What?"

"You don't want to help us because you know you can't anymore," was Tucker's response to Suimsalp. "What with you being so old, I bet you've forgotten how."

Sam suddenly realised what Tucker was playing at. A few moments ago, she was ready to pound his head in for making things worse by insulting Suimsalp. However, she suddenly realised that Tucker's plan was just the ticket they needed.  
"I guess you're right, Tuck," said Sam with a wink of her eye, which she concealed from Suimsalp. "This old guy's way over the hill." She turned her back at he old man. "Let's get out of here," she said to Tucker.

"Take that back!" shrieked the old man angrily. "Take that back!"

"Take what back?" asked Sam innocently, as she turned round to look at him in an obviously feigned innocent manner that Tucker could never have imitated.

"I'll show you!" shouted Suimsalp angrily, as he waved his cane at them. "I'll show you that I'm not over the hill!" He shuffled over to his bed where he dragged out his suitcase, muttering all the while he searched through the belongings piled inside it. "Ah, here it is!" he cried, as he tugged something out.

Tucker frowned. Was that what the old man was searching for? It certainly wasn't what he was expecting.  
"A bunch of sticks?" he exclaimed, and began to wonder whether his idea was as good as he had thought it was. "What good are a bunch of sticks going to do us?" Maybe, Suimsalp really was over the hill and coming to see him was the worst mistake they had made so far.

The old man turned round to glare at Tucker.  
"These will help us divine an answer to any question you ask," said Suimsalp, as he placed them in a cylindrical bamboo container. "Just take them, meditate on your answer and shake until one falls out. I will then tell you where you need to look from the answer the first stick provides."

An awkward smile spread across Tucker's face, as Suimsalp offered him the bamboo container with an expectant look on his face.  
"Uh, Sam, I think you should do it," he told her. "You are closer to him."

"Closer? You're his best friend!" cried Sam.

"So are you!" protested Tucker.

"Well one of you has to do it!" cried Suimsalp angrily.

"Give me that!" cried Sam, before she snatched the bamboo container away from Tucker's hands. She couldn't believe they were arguing over who was closer to Danny. It was one of the most stupid things to argue about, especially seeing as it was also over who should shake the bamboo container. She inhaled deeply and cleared her mind of all thoughts, save for one about Danny before shaking the container furiously. She ignored the sound the sticks made as she shook the container and she ignored everything else.

"Okay, Sam, you can stop now," said Tucker, as he saw one stick fall out. He bent down and picked it up, only to have it snatched out of his hands again.

Suimsalp examined the writing on the stick closely, squinting at the Chinese characters written on it.  
"Let me examine this," he told them, before pulling out a thick book from his suitcase. He flicked through the pages, all whilst mumbling some Chinese phrase under his breath, possibly the phrase that was written on the stick. "Ah," he exclaimed, as he stabbed a finger into one of the pages. "Yes, here we go."

Sam and Tucker waited with bated breath, which in hindsight was probably a bad idea. They waited and they waited and they continued to wait, as the old man sat there on the clean bed with the book on his lap. Anticipation grew, as they waited for the man to tell them the answer to their divining technique. They waited, as he read the words and they waited as he thought about the words. They waited as he looked over the words again and again and again, until their anticipation turned into impatience and their impatience into a raging inferno of anger.

"Well?" asked Sam insistently.

"According to this," began Suimsalp slowly and then he trailed off.

"Yeah?" said Tucker.

"According to this," repeated Suimsalp slowly, "there are forces working against you. Be observant and meditate regularly. Remember that you should choose the time and place to be forceful."

Sam felt that if she were a cartoon, there would be a cartoon black rain cloud over her head.  
"What?" she exclaimed in disbelief. "That has nothing to do with Danny! What kind of second-rate divination technique is this?"

"Perhaps you weren't meditating hard enough on the question," was Suimsalp's suggestion.

"I was meditating so hard, I felt my brain twist into different shapes," shouted Sam, as she waved a fist threateningly in the old man's general direction. "Isn't there something else we can do?"

Suimsalp shook his head sadly.  
"I'm afraid there is not," he told them. "You must realise that the _Shou Ge Wang_ is gone now and only he himself knows where he is. There is no point in trying to find him. He will return when he is ready." He looked behind him and then towards the book. "However, the sticks have told us something. One of the Seals of the _Si Ling_ is in danger. You must go and protect it from whatever forces are trying to capture it."

"Us?" exclaimed Tucker in disbelief. "Why us?"

"It's the _Shou Ge Wang's_ job," was Suimsalp's reply, "but seeing as he's not here and you are…"

"You're sending us kids off to do an adult's job?" protested Tucker.

"Like you did with Danny," said Sam.

"It is not my fault," said Suimsalp dismissively. "I was not the one to choose him as _Shou Ge Wang_ and it is certainly not me that gave him all those responsibilities." He turned round to look out the window. "It is raining," he said calmly. "It is already happening. Someone is attacking the Seal of _Long Wang_, Guardian of the East." He shook his head and sighed. "You must go now before it is too late." Suimsalp turned round and saw the stares he was getting from both Sam and Tucker. "What are you looking at me like that for?" he asked irritably, but received no reply save for the continued application of cold stares. "Fine, fine," he sighed. "I will come with."

* * *

"Why can't I see it?" murmured Zeross and his deep voice echoed around him as loud as Thunder. "Why can I not see the Image of Our Ideal Future?" He raised a hand waveringly towards the concave mirror, despite him being seated too far away to even reach it. "What is wrong?" he cried out. "Why is there no reception at all? I do not understand. What has happened?"

Fordyce scratched himself, as he stood on Zeross' left side. His scalp still itched slightly, even though he had taken off his wig. That, though, was the bearable itch. There was yet another itch that he wished to satisfy, a hunger to be more precise, one that could not be satisfied just yet.  
"Beats me," was Fordyce's reply.

"It's almost as if the _Shou Ge Wang_ isn't in this world anymore," mused O'Donnell. "Strange."

"What in tarnation are you talking about?" asked Fordyce angrily, though there was a slight hint of worry in his voice.

"The _Shou Ge Wang_ is a source of interference to the Fate Determination Machine, is he not?" asked O'Donnell rhetorically. "Well, he is not just a source of interference, he is also a stabiliser." He then turned to glare at Fordyce with an accusing stare that made it seem as if he suspected Fordyce had something to do with the Harvest King's disappearance.

"What are you blabbering on about, man?" cried Fordyce angrily.

Zeross sighed.  
"Inside that glass sphere, Fordyce," he began, "is a Ghost Portal. You know that, of course, don't you?" He himself turned to face Fordyce and watched as the bald doctor nodded awkwardly, as if he was afraid of Zeross. "Well, the Ghost Portal is small so as to prevent ghosts from entering, but just large enough to allow Schumann Resonance Frequencies to escape."

"As you know, the Fate Determination Machine runs on these Schumann Resonance Frequencies," continued O'Donnell in the Professor's stead. "However, physics states that any waves going through a small hole will diffract. This diffraction coupled with reflection makes the Resonance waves rebound to create noise. Noise is unwanted. However, the Harvest King's brainwaves act to cancel out Schumann Resonance Frequencies and can cancel out the noise. Unfortunately, a conscious Harvest King's brain has so much activity going on that the brainwaves cancel out all the Schumann Resonance Waves. That is why we wish to subdue his brain activity and dull it down, so that it won't cancel out all the Resonance Waves."

"Now there is so much signal that I cannot see a single thing," growled Zeross angrily. "It is like the Harvest King has disappeared altogether. We need him back."

Fordyce laughed.  
"So, he's just like a woman," he joked and then got bemused glares. He thought he'd better explain the joke to them. "Well, you can't live with 'im, you can't live without 'im." He then laughed, only to trail off as he continued receiving those glares from both O'Donnell and Zeross.

"Anyway," continued O'Donnell as if Fordyce hadn't said a thing, "I don't think it will matter that much, _Sifu_. When the Life Ghost is complete, we will have no need for the Harvest King at all."

Zeross frowned.  
"No need?" he exclaimed in surprise. He didn't like the sound of that. "What do you mean by that?" he asked O'Donnell. "Of course, we need the Harvest King! We need him to stabilise the Fate Determination reactions."

"The Life Ghost will do that," was O'Donnell's dismissive reply.

"But I thought you said the Life Ghost resonates in the same phase as that of the Schumann Resonance of the Earth and the ghosts," said Zeross sternly.

"The Life Ghost can distort the SR Waves around her," explained O'Donnell.

"That means she'll have to stay in the Fate Determination Machine!" exclaimed Zeross in horror. "O'Donnell! I won't have that!"

"You are far too selfish, Professor," sighed O'Donnell with a sad shake of his head. "To use the Fate Determination Machine to control death so you could bring back your own granddaughter?" He sighed once more, as he walked past Zeross and over to the edge of the balcony. "If you bring back your granddaughter, who will be the Life Ghost? Who will be the one to ensure the Fate Determination Machine works?" he asked, as he stood there with his back to Professor Zeross. "Surely, you realise that it is in the best interest of all doctors to be able to control the Forces of Death?"

Zeross shook visibly with anger, as he sat there in his wheelchair.  
"Are you suggesting that my granddaughter must never be brought back to this world?" he asked angrily. "Are you saying that she's nothing more than a tool?"

"_The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few_, it has often been said," continued O'Donnell calmly. "Doctors everywhere are failing at their task to save lives in one aspect or another. They cannot save all the lives there are to save out there. We, however, will change that. By using the machine to overrule the actions of the _Shi Ti'en Yen Wang_, we will control death and we will decide how dies or not. Is that not what you wanted, _Sifu_?"

"Not at the expense of my granddaughter!" protested Zeross angrily.

Fordyce smiled, as he stood in front of the old man. He grabbed both arms of Zeross' wheelchair, before leaning into smile asininely at his mentor.  
"I'm sorry, _Sifu_," apologised Fordyce insincerely, "but you no longer have a say in this matter." He then reached out and ripped a plastic tube right out of the oxygen tank behind it. "Goodbye, _Sifu_."

* * *

It was raining heavily around the Amity Park Public Swimming Pool and the great snake-like ghost that floated over the pool wasn't helping matters much either. The thing was a strange ghost. It looked like a snake rising out of a basket, but it had arms with five-clawed hands and a head like a Chinese dragon with a flowing beard and the type of whiskers you see on fish.

The red-clad ghost hunter dodged another shower of sharp hailstones, before aiming her gun straight up at the Water Ghost.  
"Eat this, scaly!" cried the hunter in an enraged but unmistakably feminine voice, before she opened fire. She watched in disbelief as a shield of water appeared in front of the Water Ghost and blocked the beam of energy from her gun. "No way!" she cried, before the ghost swept down and knocked her off her feet with one sweep of its claws.

"Stupid ghost," she cried angrily, as she leapt back to her feet. "No one gets the better of Valerie! What?" The ghost was no longer floating above pool. Was it possible that it had dived underneath? She edged slowly towards it, her gun aimed towards the water and peered over the edge into the watery deep. "Come on out, ugly," she called out to the ghost, as she walked around the pool. "I know you're in there."

Suddenly, the Water Ghost burst out of the water, accompanied by several sharp spikes of ice that flew straight at Valerie. She dodged them all, chopping some out of the air to shatter against her fist or against the ground. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the Water Ghost swoop down towards her. She dived out of the way and then when she had gained enough distance, she aimed her rifle straight at the Water Ghost and fired a blast of energy straight at it.

The Water Ghost cried out as the blast ripped off its right arm. It writhed like a snake that had just had its head cut off, before diving backwards into the pool.

An eerie silenced followed soon after, disturbed only by the patter of raindrops on the concrete and on the roofs of the changing rooms. There was an eerie stillness or at least, there would have been were it not for the falling raindrops that served to dampen down everything, but slid reluctantly off of Valerie's suit. Nothing living moved. Nothing living made a sound.

A column of water rose up out of the water, before curving in the air and falling straight down towards Valerie. She was unable to dodge it. The wave of water crashed on top of her, sweeping her off her feet and away from the pool. And as she was submerged in the water, she saw the Water Ghost swimming straight at her, cutting its way through the water, its arms held by its sides to streamline its movement.

But she had blown its arm off, hadn't she?

Now that she thought about it, this ghost did seem to have an elemental theme going on. Was it possible that water healed this ghost and if so, how was she going to defeat it if it could just jump back into the pool and heal all of its wounds? What she needed was a way to capture it, a way to seal it off from the source of its power, from the water that even now surrounded her.

What Valerie needed was some way of defeating this Water Ghost. After all, she had to do it. A load of money was riding on this capture and of course, that money would get her one step closer to achieving her dreams of revenge…

* * *


	9. Chapter 9: Warm Tape

WARNING: Rabid Danny fans will not like this chapter, but I insist that you at least read the entire chapter and the note at the end, before making any nasty comments.

* * *

**Chapter Nine: Warm Tape**

"Stop!"

Valerie turned round. She recognised the two youths that were running up towards her. How could she not recognise them, after all, they were classmates, even though she didn't know them personally and would never have stooped so low as to be able to know them. Still, Tucker had once been kind enough to take the rap for intruding upon the factory her father guarded.  
"Stay back!" she cried.

It was too late.

The Water Ghost rose back out of the pool of water and turned through the air to face Sam and Tucker. It looked at them and saw them armed with makeshift wooden swords that seemed to be made out left-over planks for picket fences and lots and lots of ivy, covering the sword and themselves. Somehow, it knew that these were exorcists of a sort but it did not recognise the ivy. The Water Ghost roared before opening its mouth and letting a jet of water spray out, and as the water left its maw, it turned to slushy, half-melted ice.

Through a sheer stroke of luck, Tucker slipped on some water and fell forwards and out of the way of the stream of water.

Sam was not so lucky. She was not quick enough and the water hit it with a force that knocked her off her feet and nearly made her barrel into Suimsalp. Though the ivy around her was supposed to protect her against the ghost's attacks, it was practically useless against a barrage of water. The ghost's attack ripped the flimsy ivy right off her and soaked her to the bone.  
"How did I get talked into this again?" she wondered out loud, as she brushed her damp hair out of her eyes. She lamented her parka, which was meant to keep her dry but had failed to stop the water seeping down past her neck to her clothes and was now doing its best to keep as much moisture in as possible.

"Be thankful it only hit you with water," said Suimsalp, who seemed to be as dry as a bone.

"I should have brought a spare change of clothes," sighed Sam, as she got up on to her feet. "Well, let's get this thing done with."

"What do you think you're doing here?" cried Valerie, as she dodged a few more icicles aimed at her. "It's dangerous. Get out of here!"

"No way," protested Tucker with a shake of his head. "It's all right you hunting ghosts, but you can't have this one."

Valerie frowned underneath that helmet of hers. Did she hear right? Was Tucker protecting this ghost?  
"You must be kidding me!" she cried. "All ghosts have to go and I'm the one to get rid of them." She aimed her huge anti-ghost gun at Tucker. "Now get out of my way or I'll have to fry you as well as that ghost."

Tucker gulped nervously, as he stood there. He had no idea Valerie was that determined to be rid of ghosts. Was she that willing? Was she going to shoot him just so she could get to the ghost behind him? He hoped not and he hoped that his courage would last long enough for him to stand her down. Despite the knocking of his knees, despite the shaking of his entire body, he knew that he had to stand Valerie down. Tucker had to do his duty to his friend, Danny, and protect the ghost that Danny was supposed to protect, that very ghost that was behind him.

It was then that Tucker realised that the ghost was behind him. He whirled round and saw it hurtling towards him with sharp claws aimed straight at his chest.

Tucker let out the most high-pitched, effeminate scream of terror in his entire life, moments before Valerie shoved him out of the way and then fired a net at the Water Ghost.

The net flew through the air straight at the Water Ghost and enveloped itself around it. The fibres that made up the net glowed with an eerie green glow, as the Water Ghost tried its best to slip through, but found itself unable to. No ghost could phase out of that. Intangibility was useless against the net, as it prevented the ghost's very essence from moving through it. That net was the perfect trap for a whole ghost.

Underneath the gear that hid Valerie's face, she smiled. That ghost was as good as hers and she would take it straight it to her current employer for her reward. The amount of money she got from that would be very welcome and she was confident it would help get her family back on its feet. She could almost feel the money in her hands, as she moved towards the ghost under the net.  
"Huh? What?" cried Valerie, as Sam suddenly blocked her way. "Get out of my way, Goth girl!"

"No, I can't do that," protested Sam with a shake of her head. "You can't take away this ghost. It's one of the things keeping this city from falling apart."

"Don't be ridiculous," scoffed Valerie.

"No, it's true, young lady," said Suimsalp, as he shuffled towards Sam and Valerie. "This is one of many fragments of the _Si Ling_, the Four Holy Animals that are Guardians of the Four Cardinal Compass Point Directions. It is acting _Ch'eng Huang_ or City Guardian. If you take it away, the Forces of Chaos will rise and envelop this city. Already, two others have been captured and the city is already feeling the ill effects of the imbalance." He looked Valerie in the eye or attempted to anyway. "You must not take this Ghost Fragment away," he said sternly.

Valerie laughed.  
"What's with the old man?" she asked Sam. "Look here, Gramps, I was paid to capture this ghost and I am going to do that. Not you nor these losers are going to stop me."

"You've got to listen to him," said Tucker. "Please, Valerie. He's not lying to you."

"This ghost is important for our city's survival," said Sam sternly.

Valerie laughed at that comment. She had never heard something so ridiculous in her entire life.  
"Ghosts are important?" she scoffed dismissively. "Like the ghost that trashed my Dad's career and trashed my family's belongings and completely trashed my life?" she shouted, her voice nearly becoming a scream of indeterminable rage. "Ghosts are useless. They have no use. No way is a ghost ever going to be of any use to us. They're just rejects. They should have passed over a long time ago. They shouldn't even exist!"

There was a chuckle from behind Valerie.

"I m-must agree w-w-with you there."

Standing behind Valerie were two men clad in the uniforms of the Blue Bow Army, the very paramilitary group that served as the security guards for the Roslyn Hospital Complex and its laboratories and mental institute. They stood there with firm, determined expressions on their face and seemingly armed to the teeth. They each stood on either side of two people. One was a blonde-haired woman, the same woman that had been the nurse that had been tending to Danny in the hospital just before Sam's visit. The other was…

"Danny?" exclaimed Sam in disbelief.

Danny wore a white helmet on his head on which was the symbol of the Blue Bow Army. He wore a black Kevlar suit with white boots and white gloves, the forearms of the suit being white as well as the shoulder pads. Draped around him was a blue cape of some sort that was kept in place by a gold chain clasp with the Blue Bow Army insignia on both sides of it.

There was a smile on Danny's face, as he floated next to the blonde-haired woman.  
"Thank you," he said calmly. "Th-Thank you for capturing _L-L-Long Wang's_ Ghost Fragment f-f-for us. We, the B-B-Blue B-Bow Army, have been searching a long t-time for it." He raised his right hand and clicked his fingers.

In response the two Blue Bow soldiers on either side of him rushed forwards.

"Oh no, you don't!" cried Valerie, as she stepped in their way. "That ghost's mine!" she shouted, before aiming her rifle at the two Blue Bow Soldiers. "Take one step closer and I'll blow you to Kingdom come!" She watched them stop in their tracks, looking at her awkwardly with what seemed like an expression of pure fear on their faces. "Say, you're from the Blue Bow Army, ain't you?" she exclaimed in surprise. "What are you guys doing here? What? You don't trust me to bring this ghost to you?"

A smile spread across Danny's face.  
"O-On the c-c-contrary," he replied. "We w-were just here to t-t-take that troublesome g-ghost from your h-h-hands." He moved closer to the two soldiers, his feet never touching the ground. "D-Don't worry. We haven't f-f-forgotten our p-part of the bargain," he told her and clicked his fingers.

The nurse quickly stepped forward and opened up a briefcase.

Tucker gasped. He had never seen so much money before in his life. So this was what Valerie wanted? Money?

"How do I know it's all there?" asked Valerie sternly, as she looked at Danny.

"You d-don't t-t-trust us?" asked Danny in a hurt tone of voice. "I'm hurt, V-V-Valerie. I'm v-very hurt by y-your w-w-words."

Valerie suddenly realised something. She had been wondering why Danny looked so familiar to her, as she stood there.  
"Who are you?" she asked suddenly. "Where's Dr. O'Donnell?"

"He c-c-cannot be here, I'm afraid," replied Danny.

"So he sent you here?" asked Valerie. "He sent you? I recognise you! You're that ghost that ruined my life!"

An apologetic smile spread across Danny's lips.  
"W-What c-c-can I s-say?" he said in reply to her statement. "That's a-all in the p-p-past." He motioned towards the nurse, whom nodded and closed the briefcase. "Think of th-th-this payment as c-c-compensation for all the harm I've c-c-caused you."

It seemed that Valerie was deep in thought at that moment.

"Danny, what do you think you're doing?" asked Tucker.

"You will not take this ghost fragment, traitor!" cried out Suimsalp, before he rushed the soldiers. Wielding his cane like some sword, he knocked the two of them unconscious and watched as they both fell, a Fenton Ghost Thermos flying out of the grip of one of the soldiers' hands to slide across the wet tiled floor and come to a halt underneath Danny's feet.

"Th-Th-Those m-moves," exclaimed Danny, as he extended his hand out and caught the Fenton Thermos, which fell upwards into his gloved grip. "They are j-just like that of the _M-M-Mao Shang_." An awkward smile spread across his lips, making it look as if he didn't have full control of his face. "F-F-Foolish old m-man," he said disdainfully. "Who d-do you think y-y-you are? Who d-do you think y-you are to f-f-fight against us, the B-Blue Bow A-A-Army? We w-w-will have the g-ghost fragment of L-L-Long Wang. You c-cannot stop us. N-Nothing can s-stop us."

Sam shook her head in disbelief. Had she heard right? Had Danny just announced that he was a part of the Blue Bow Army?  
"Danny, what's going on?" she asked him. "I don't understand. Why are you working for them now?"

"He's a traitor, that's why," snapped Suimsalp angrily. "We _Mao Shang_, we protect those ghosts that need to be protected, not just send them off to _Feng Du_ for judgement. Yet now, now he's siding with the Westerners that threatened the _Mao Shang_, that even now threaten this city with their greed. Traitor!"

"No, it can't be like that!" protested Tucker with a shake of his head. "It's not like that, is it? Tell me it isn't like that."

"Danny?" exclaimed Sam, with a great fear in her heart, a fear that Danny had really gone over to work for the Blue Bow Army.

Danny smiled awkwardly, as he floated there beside the blonde-haired woman. It was a lop-sided smile, as if one side was grimacing and the other was being forced into a smiling expression.  
"S-Sam, Tuck-ck-cker," he stuttered, before wincing as if in pain but only momentarily. "You've g-got it all wr-wr-wrong. I'm their L-L-Leader now. Th-They do as I-I-I say." He chuckled again, as he closed his eyes, as if he was resigning himself to some unthinkable fate. "Y-Y-You're both welcome to j-join us, if you like. Being my f-f-friends, you can join as high ranking o-o-officers of the Blue B-B-Bow Army," he told them.

"C-Come on, guys," Danny said in a pleading voice. "You'll h-h-have the perfect oppor-opportunity to mould this w-w-world as you see fit. No more j-j-jocks. No m-m-more being b-b-bullied." The smile on his face widened, as he floated towards them. "We will c-c-call the sh-sh-shots and there'll be n-n-no more ghosts to bother us," he added. "This world… W-we shall b-build a N-New W-W-World in its stead and we shall m-make it in our i-i-image."

Sam turned to glare at the blonde-haired woman.  
"What have you done to him?" she asked accusingly.

"I'm sorry, I don't follow," replied the blonde-haired woman with a shake of her head. "I haven't done anything to him."

"What? You must be kidding me," replied Tucker. "You guys have obviously done something to him."

"Well, even if we have, I wouldn't know," was the blonde's reply. "I was just asked by Dr. O'Donnell to accompany Master Fenton."

Danny laughed.  
"Oh, I s-s-see," said Danny cheerfully. "You th-th-think they've d-d-done something to me, don't y-you? Well, you don't have to w-w-worry, g-g-guys. This is all m-m-my decision. I d-d-decided to join the Blue Bow A-A-Army out of my own f-f-free will." He smiled in a way that suggested that he was trying to hide something. "S-S-So, guys, what do you s-s-say? Join me?"

There was silence for a while.

Sam didn't know what to do. On the one hand, this was Danny. He was her friend, he best friend. Yet on the other hand, he had just joined an unethical and possibly evil organisation. He was stuttering too, which suggested that he wasn't quite his normal self. If she joined, would it help her find out what on Earth was going on in Amity Park? Would it help her find out just what the Blue Bow Army was up to? Then there was the principal of the thing. Could she join up to an organisation that had tried to harm her friend in the past, even though Danny claimed he was in charge now?

"Sounds pretty good to me," said Tucker, who sounded very convinced.

"No," protested Sam awkwardly. It didn't seem as if she meant it from the expression on her face nor from the way she said it. "No, we can't join the Blue Bow Army, Danny. It's just not right."

"I s-s-see," said Danny in a disappointed tone of voice. "I'm sorry you f-f-feel that way, but seeing as you are my f-f-friend, I guess I c-c-can respect your deci-ci-cision." He shook his head. "But Sam, I c-c-cannot allow you to get in my way. You understand that, d-d-don't you?"

"No, I don't understand," protested Sam with a shake of her head. "Why are you doing this, Danny? Why did you just join up with these creeps?"

"I h-h-have my reasons," was Danny's abrupt reply. "N-N-Now, please get out of m-m-my way. We m-must capture the Seal of _L-L-Long Wang_ for the L-L-Life G-Ghost Project."

"No!" shouted Suimsalp, as he stepped in Danny's way. "You cannot take away this ghost fragment. I told you, the Seals of the _Si Ling_ are important to this city's survival!"

The disappointed look on Danny's face changed awkwardly and abruptly into a displeased look. Danny looked down on Suimsalp with the coldest stare he had ever given anyone, even Dash Baxter.  
"G-G-Get out of my way, old m-m-man," said Danny in a dangerous tone of voice.

"No."

"Then d-d-die," retorted Danny, before he blasted Suimsalp in the chest with a powerful surge of ectoplasmic energy that blasted the old man through the air and dropped him into the pool.

"Danny! How could you?" protested Sam in disbelief. "That was a defenceless old man!"

"He was f-f-far from defenceless," was Danny's reply. "You kn-kn-know just as w-w-well as I d-d-do that he was m-m-more than capable of h-h-hurting me."

"I expected nothing better from a ghost," said Valerie, as she rose back to her feet. She aimed her rifle at Danny. "Now I'm going to do to you what you did to that poor old man." She opened fire.

With one sweep of his hand, Danny sent the bolt of energy flying back at Valerie and if she hadn't back-flipped out of the way, she would have been toast.  
"P-P-Pathetic," stated Danny sternly. "I-I-Is that all you've g-g-got?" He winced again, almost as if someone was stabbing him in the back or in the head. Then he sighed, as he shook his head. "We share the s-s-same goals, you and I," he told Valerie. "We're n-not that different, V-V-Valerie."

"You're wrong," replied Valerie, before she fired another plasma bolt at Danny, which went straight through him harmlessly. She cried out before rushing Danny. Her fist went through thin air, but not because Danny had become intangible. He had merely floated out of the way and his next blow hit Valerie in the head and sent her flying backwards.

"Those who s-stand in my w-way will get what's c-c-coming to them," stated Danny in a matter of fact tone. "I will change this w-w-world for the b-better. It will b-b-be a glorious new world and I-I-I will c-c-carve out the name of its new r-r-ruler in the v-very earth if I have t-t-to." He aimed the Fenton Thermos at the ghost fragment of _Long Wang_ and uncapped it, pressing a button on its side. "The G-G-Greatest Thing is going to awaken soon and w-w-with it, a new ch-ch-chapter in our h-h-history shall begin," he stuttered, as the Fenton Thermos sucked up the ghost fragment.

Sam couldn't stand it.  
"No!" she cried, as she rushed at Danny. "Let go of that ghost!" She grabbed the Fenton Thermos and tried to tear it out of Danny's grasp, but found herself incapable of doing so against his inhuman strength.

"N-No, S-S-Sam," protested Danny. "Y-Y-You let go. This d-does not belong to you. L-L-Let go, S- Sam… Sam, before I have t-to hurt you." He reached out and grabbed Sam by her head, his fingers wrapping tightly around his skull. "So persistent! Let g-g-go now before I have to c-c-crush your sk-skull," he warned her and he tightened his grip just to make sure that Sam knew he meant it. "L-L-Let go, S-S-Sam." Danny tightened his grip on her skull, applying more pressure to it than he had before.

"No, don't do this, Danny," pleaded Sam, as she felt the pressure of Danny's grip like some vice against her head. It hurt, it hurt a great deal, but she knew she had to cling on to the Thermos. She couldn't let Danny take the ghost away. "Please." She looked up into Danny's eyes with a pleading look on her face and it was then that she knew he wouldn't care if he did cave her head in.

That look on Danny's face, it was so cold, it was so uncaring. There was nothing in his eyes to even suggest that he had a soul, let alone feelings of friendship or love for her.

Tucker suddenly rushed forwards.  
"No, Danny, don't!" he cried out to his friend, as he grabbed Danny's arm and tried tugging at. "Danny, let go of Sam! Let go of her!" he cried out.

"Et tu, T-Tucker?" exclaimed Danny in surprise. "You, my b-b-best f-f-friend, would get in m-m-my way?" He turned to glare at Tucker coldly. "Get off me Tuck-k-ker," he said sternly. "Let go n-now. Don't b-b-betray me like this, T-T-Tucker. Let go n-now!" He then inhaled sharply, before spitting out a glob of ectoplasmic energy that struck Tucker against the head and knocked him unconscious.

"No! Tucker!"

Suddenly, Sam felt a great surge of pain in her stomach. It made her let go of the Thermos and she fell backwards, and in doing so, she caught a glimpse of the blonde-haired woman whom had delivered the blow.

"Thank y-y-you, Alethea," thanked Danny gratefully, as he looked at Sam and Tucker, lying on the floor. "C-C-Come now. We must go." He turned, as if to walk away, or rather float away, but he stopped. "Ah, wait!" he called out to Alethea. "I f-f-forgot to do ssomething." He turned back round and looked at Sam thoughtfully, as he floated back towards her. "I'm s-s-sorry, S-Sam," he apologised to her, before he reached down and grabbed her by the throat. "I have to d-do this. I hope y-y-you'll understand." He lifted her up by her throat and then flung her into the cold, freezing pool.

Danny then turned round.  
"Now f-for the other one," he said calmly, as he turned to face Tucker. He floated over towards Tucker, before he bent down to grab his former best friend by the collar. "G-G-Goodbye, Tucker."

A plasma shot flew through the air and struck Danny in the chest, sending him floating backwards.

"Get away from him, ghost," warned Valerie, as she aimed her rifle at him.

"When the New W-W-World begins, you," began Danny as he pointed a finger accusingly at Valerie, "will bbe one of the f-f-first to g-go." He floated backwards and wrapped an arm around Alethea, before he disappeared completely in a flash of light.

"Good riddance," muttered Valerie under her breath. She turned to face Tucker and then thought. "He was going to throw his friends into that freezing cold water?" she wondered out loud. "What kind of a monster is he?" She suddenly realised that he had forgotten about somebody. Valerie turned around and ran for the pool, flinging her weapons aside and dived into the freezing cold water.

After what seemed like an eternity, Valerie climbed back out of the water and hauled Sam out…

* * *

The machine was a strange one with eight spider-like metallic legs sticking out of its bottom to stab into the ground. Each of these were entwined in eight wires that wrapped around the legs to connect to the bottom of one of eight glass columns that rose upwards, filled with bubbling water. These joined to a giant glass sphere in which the water was illuminated by the sparks coming from eight prongs near the top that made the water bubble.

All of this was illuminated by the concave mirror that sat on top of this machinery, which was mounted on what looked like giant, dark, metallic shoulder pads that capped the top of the glass sphere. Attached to this great metallic cap were two strange things like rockets with four spikes on one end to form something like a claw and these spun round the machine in a slow, regular manner.

A concave mirror sat on top of the Fate Determination Machine, mounted on top of what looked like giant, dark, metallic shoulders pads that capped the glass sphere of the machine. Attached to this great metallic cap were two strange things like rockets with four spikes on one end to form something like a claw and these spun round the machine in a slow, regular manner. They were as strange as the eight spider-like metallic legs that supported the bulk of the machine, around each of which was entwined eight wires that spiralled around the legs to attach to the bottom of eight glass columns that supported the glass sphere.

A new addition to the Machine was ivy, which now covered the legs and parts of the glass columns. Another new addition was that of Professor Zeross. He was attached in the bottom of the glass sphere to a circular dais with a hole in a middle, over which he was suspended. Wires trailed in and out of him, as ivy entwined his entire body.

O'Donnell planned to place the Life Ghost in Zeross' body. The Life Ghost would take Zeross' body and consume it, use it and reconfigure it to the shape that the Life Ghost would be more comfortable of inhabiting. He smiled.  
"It's only a matter of time," he muttered under his breath.

There was a loud crash that made O'Donnell turn round.

Standing there was Dr. Fordyce, staggering in like a drunk and with an asinine smile on his face. Actually, the latter wasn't that unusual, but the drunken stagger was.

"This is paradise!" drawled Fordyce lazily. "I'd never seen so many ghosts in my life. So many to choose from."

"You've been consuming ghosts?" asked O'Donnell in disbelief. "Fool! We have far more important things to attend to than indulging your stupid addiction."

"A-Addiction?" exclaimed a third voice.

There was suddenly a flash of light and Danny appeared, floating beside Alethea.

O'Donnell raised his left arm and pushed back his sleeve to look at the face of his watch.  
"That was quick," he said to himself. "I take it then that you succeeded… Sir?"

A smile spread across Danny's face, as he floated away from Alethea and towards Dr. O'Donnell with the Fenton Thermos in his hands.  
"That's r-r-right," he replied smugly. "I did hhave some interference from a few f-f-former friends of mine, but nothing really b-b-bad happened." He handed the flask to O'Donnell. "See?" he asked. "Wasn't it a g-g-great idea to follow that V-Valerie girl after all?"

"Yes, and we don't have to pay her," agreed O'Donnell with a nod of her head. "We get the ghost, we don't have to pay a thing… A win-win situation."

"F-F-For us, anyway," added Danny.

A smile suddenly spread across O'Donnell's lips.  
"Yes," he agreed with a nod of his head. "Yes, indeed." His smile widened. "It would appear that you're learning fast, Master Fenton," he told Danny, as he turned round to face the Fate Determination Machine. "Yes, you're showing real initiative. Tell me, Master Fenton, what do you plan to do now? That Valerie girl won't be tricked into finding _Gui Xian_ for us, not now anyway."

However, Danny looked as if he hadn't been listening. He had been looking at Fordyce all that time.  
"Tell m-m-me, what were you t-talking about?" asked Danny curiously. "B-B-Before I arrived. Something a-b-bout an addiction?"

"Oh, you mustn't worry about that, sir," replied O'Donnell. "Dr. Fordyce will handle it personally. Won't you, Michael?"

"What? Feck off!" swore Fordyce drunkenly.

"He's a mean drunk when he's high on ghosts," said O'Donnell with a shake of his head.

Danny frowned.  
"He e-e-eats ghosts?" asked Danny curiously.

"That's right, sir."

A smile spread across Danny's lips.  
"P-P-Perhaps then, we've f-f-found a solution to this city's g-ghost problems," he said in a pleased tone of voice. His right eye blinked uncontrollably for a second, before it returned to normal. "We have a t-terrible ghost problem h-h-here in Amity P-P-Park. Like v-v-vermin, they swarm all over the p-place. Someone m-must exterminate them. Exterminate them a-all."

"Yes, indeed," agreed O'Donnell, "but once we create the Life Ghost, there will be no more ghosts in Amity Park or anywhere else in the World of the Living, for that matter. And we're only one ghost fragment short of completing the Life Ghost." He smiled. "If we can capture the ghost fragment of _Gui Xian_, the Life Ghost will be complete, the Fate Determination Machine will be complete and we will be able to take control of the Kingdom of Death!"

"You don't even know where the last fragment is," slurred Fordyce.

"You are c-c-correct," was Danny's reply.

"So what do you intend to do, sir?" asked O'Donnell curiously.

Silence followed O'Donnell's question. A bemused expression spread across Danny's face to then be replaced by an expression of desperation.  
"I-I-I'm n-n-not en-en-entirely s-s-sure," was Danny's stuttered reply. "I-I-I d-d-don't know." He turned to face O'Donnell. "W-W-What do you s-s-suggest, Dr. O-O-O'Donnell?"

A smile spread across O'Donnell's face.  
"I thought you'd never ask," was his reply. "We have completed the construction of several new Automaton Ghosts, based on the _Jiangshi_. These A-Ghosts can be considered, ectoplasmic robots. I suggest, sir, that you send them out to scour the city for the remaining Seal of the _Si Ling_."

"L-L-Let it be so, then," said Danny dismissively. "I m-m-must go now. If you n-n-need me, I will b-b-be in the shower, washing o-o-off the stench of ghosts from m-m-my body."

* * *

Tucker groaned, as he clutched his head. He felt as if he had just been hit by a speeding truck. Why was that? Why did his head throb like that? It was almost as if he had been hit in the head. He tried to think back to what could have happened before he had blanked out, but what was it that he had been doing before he was knocked unconscious?

Danny.

That was right. He had been in a confrontation against Danny.

Tucker still couldn't understand how Danny had gone over to betray them like that. It wasn't like Danny to act like that. He wondered. Was it possible that Danny had one of those paper Talismans on him? He certainly didn't look as if he was wearing one, but perhaps one was attached to him underneath the armour. And the way Danny tried to hurt Sam just didn't…  
"Sam!" cried Tucker, as he sat bolt upright.

A frown appeared on Tucker's face, as he sat there in an unfamiliar bedroom. It didn't look like his bedroom, so whose was it? It didn't look like Sam's bedroom either and it definitely wasn't Danny's. A sudden thought occurred to him and it made him nearly wet his pants. What if he had been taken to hospital and not just any hospital but the Blue Bow-run Roslyn Hospital?

"Good, you're awake."

Tucker turned round and saw Valerie sitting beside him.  
"Where am I?" he asked curiously.

"Hospital," was the reply.

"Which hospital?" asked Tucker nervously.

A frown appeared on Valerie's face, as she sat there on the chair.  
"What?" she asked. "What does it matter which hospital?"

"It's not the Roslyn Hospital is it?" asked Tucker curiously. He received no immediate reply, which was no good for his nerves. "Is it?" he asked insistently, even though only a microsecond had passed since he last asked Valerie. "It isn't, is it? Please tell me it isn't. Please, Valerie, tell me you didn't let those ambulance guys take me to Roslyn."

"What is up with you?" asked Valerie with an irritated tone of voice. She couldn't understand it. Just when she thought she had Tucker figured out, just when she thought he wasn't that much of a loser, he would show her just how much of a loser he really was. "If you didn't want to go to hospital, you shouldn't have been out there with that ghost flying around."

"Sam, where's Sam?" asked Tucker.

"What do I look like?" replied Valerie. "Sam's keeper?"

"Is this Roslyn?" asked Tucker more insistently.

Valerie sighed, rolling her eyes.  
"No," she exhaled irritably. "What's wrong with Roslyn anyway?"

Tucker thought of his experiences at the Roslyn Hospital and of all the bad experiences there. Even before he knew of the Blue Bow Army's control over the hospital, when he visited Danny there for the first time, he had suffered being pinned underneath several of the Blue Bow's security guards after his PDA went off. They had detained him for ages and it had taken a thorough searching and frisking before they were satisfied that he could leave.  
"The Blue Bow Army controls that hospital," was Tucker's reply.

"Oh," said Valerie quietly.

"Yeah," said Tucker, as he nodded as if agreeing with the subtext of Valerie's word.

Valerie looked away and down at the tiled floor of the hospital. She thought back to the event at the pool. They had called that ghost by the name of Danny. Didn't they hang out with a kid named Danny? Yes, they did and now that she thought about it, that ghost kid did look a bit like Danny save for the glowing eyes. She wondered. Was Danny really a ghost? A ghost in their school. That seemed unbelievable. Surely, such a thing wasn't possible?

"Hey!" cried Valerie. "What do you think you're doing? You can't get out of bed now!"

"Thanks for your concern, Valerie, but I've got to go find Sam," said Tucker sternly, as he looked around for his clothes.

"You get back in that bed, boy," protested Valerie angrily. "The doctor said there's a risk you might have got a concussion. You gotta stay in there!"

Tucker smiled, as he turned his head to face Valerie.  
"Aw, I didn't know y'cared," he said, before he found his clothes folded neatly in one of the cupboards. He took his shirt and his trousers down. "Uh, Valerie, would you mind giving me some privacy?"

"Fine," sighed Valerie with a sigh and another roll of her eyes. "But I'm coming with!" she added sharply. "Someone's gotta look after a dolt like you."

The smile on Tucker's face widened as he watched Valerie walk out. He wouldn't mind being with her at all. Tucker turned his head to look out the window and then grimaced at the night scene that lay outside before his very eyes. He had a terrible feeling that Sam had been taken to a different hospital, to the Roslyn Hospital, the Hospital under the control of the Blue Bow Army and its new Leader, Danny Phantom. Tucker had no idea what terrible things they were doing to Sam there, but he knew he had to hurry. He had to save Sam.

* * *

"S-S-Sam."

The black-haired girl in question was floating in a new machine developed by the Blue Bow Army. She was submerged in a tank filled with water heated to thirty-seven degrees Celsius in an attempt to keep her body temperature stabilised. It wasn't perfect by a long shot, which was also why she was hooked up to a dialysis machine that removed her blood and ran it through a heated machine to ensure that even her blood itself was at the correct temperature.

"I l-l-loved you, S-S-Sam," whispered Danny, as he floated near to the tank and he couldn't help but smile faintly, as if from a fond memory of his own past. "M-M-My love for y-y-you burned with a thousand w-white hot suns. I just w-w-want you to know that." His right eye closed as a spasm made the entire right-hand side of his face contract momentarily. "It really hurt me to do that to you, S-S-Sam," he told her, as the right-hand side of his face returned to normal. "But, I c-c-couldn't stand the thought of you h-h-hating me."

The smile returned to his lips after the spasm that had wiped it from the right-hand side.  
"I know that I-I-I can never be that s-s-special one f-f-for you," Danny whispered to Sam quietly, "that one p-p-person in the whole w-w-wide w-w-world that y-y-you love no matter w-w-what, that o-o-one person, the only p-p-person that you will e-e-ever love f-f-for the rest of your l-l-life. So, you s-s-see, that's why I d-d-did this to you."

"S-S-Sam," sighed Danny, as he leaned over the tank, pressing his hand against the glass. "This w-w-way, you can be mine f-f-forever. Y-Y-You can n-n-never hate me. You c-c-can never lose your l-l-love for me. This w-w-way, you will s-s-stay perfect f-f-forever and w-w-we will always b-b-be together… in our d-d-dreams." He leaned in closer towards the glass surface of the tank. "I l-l-love you S-S-Sam," he whispered, before he kissed the surface of the glass just above Sam's pale lips. "S-S-See you l-l-later, Sam."

* * *

_Author's Note: Some of you may not like what I've done to Danny in this particular chapter. (Yes, he is particularly creepy in the last scene). But don't worry, he'll be back to normal later on in the story, but for now you'll have to put up with him as he is. Some of you may even recognise the plot situation as being borrowed from a particular videogame out there. Yes, it inspired this chapter, but believe me when I say that this will not turn into a clone of that videogame._


	10. Chapter 10: Executive Battle

Author's Note: For some strange reason, I've always associated Danny Fenton (and thusly also his alter-ego, Danny Phantom) with the Red Hot Chilli Peppers' songs, _Minor Thing_ and _The Zephyr Song_. I don't know why. It's gotten to the point where they've become his theme tunes (i.e. the tunes I listen to the most when writing Danny scenes). Conversely these are the tunes that I've somehow got associated with the other characters:  
Evil Danny's Themes: _Judgement of Truth_ from Mega Man X: Command Mission and _Sigma Speaks_ from Mega Man X8.  
Sam's Themes: _Empty_ and _Everything I Said_ by the Cranberries.  
Tucker's Theme: _Spider Magic_ and _Massimo of Steel_ from Mega Man X: Command Mission.  
O'Donnell's Themes: Bairu's Theme (Weil's Theme) from Mega Man Zero 3 and _Wily's Lab_ from Mega Man Battle Network 3.  
P.S. If you haven't noticed all the chapter titles are actually the names of songs from either the Cranberries album, _No Need to Argue_, or the Red Hot Chilli Peppers album, _By the Way_, with the exception of Chapter Seven and this Chapter, which bear the names of songs from the _Mega Man X: Command Mission_ Sound Track respectively.  
P.P.S. has to be the only site I know that downgrades its recognition of HTML tags and characters so that it recognises even less. I've had to get rid of all curly quotation marks and curly apostrophes, all because the system insisted on altering them into unicode. It boggles the mind.  
P.P.P.S. You know what else boggles the mind? How come none of you told me I got Sam's last name wrong?I was sitting at home one night, watching an episode I've seen before, only to hear Lancer suddenly call her Manson instead of Mason. And none of you pointed it out to me and I feel like a fool. I know you guys like my fanfic, but please, if you see any errors, please tell me about them.

* * *

**Chapter Ten: Executive Battle**

"We are the Blue Bow Army and we have taken full control of the City of Amity Park," announced the voice over the radio and the television sets. "As of now a curfew has been set on the entire city. Anyone venturing outside of their homes will be shot. We will also be conducting a search of all premises within the city limits and ten miles out from the city boundary. There is no call for alarm. Co-operate and you will not be harmed. Do not attempt to call the police. We have cut all communications in the city. Do not go to the police. All police stations are now under the control of the Blue Bow Army."

Tucker listened to the entire Blue Bow Army broadcast. He didn't like the sound of things.  
"This is nuts!" he exclaimed, as he checked his PDA. "They're jamming the signals. I can't even phone home." He was sure the Blue Bow Army had been completely thorough in their ruthless attack against communications technology. "This is going to be a big problem."

Valerie scoffed at Tucker's comment, as she pulled her mask over her head.  
"Says you," she said, as she put the finishing touches to her ghost hunting gear. "The Blue Bow Army's using ghosts to do their dirty work and so far, no ghost's outwitted me."

"Except for Danny," pointed out Tucker.

"Yeah, shut up now," said Valerie irritably.

Tucker still couldn't believe that Valerie had brought all her ghost gear with her and had stashed it underneath his bed. If he didn't know better, he thought she somewhat cared for him.  
"Oh cool!" he exclaimed, as she brought out a sleek piece of technology he recognised from the first time she attacked Danny. "You fixed your hover board!" He had been dying to ride that thing, ever since he saw it.

Underneath that helmet of hers, Valerie smiled.  
"Well, how else did you think we'd get around?" was her reply, as she flicked a switch and then let it hover in the air. She hopped on. "Now, you coming or what?" she asked.

"Yeah, baby!" cried Tucker, before he was thrown a spare helmet. "Prepared for all sorts of things, aren't we?" he commented.

"Just shut up and put it on already," sighed Valerie. She gasped and then had to open fire, blasting a ghost to pieces. "Come on!" she cried. "They've found us!"

It was too late. Four of O'Donnell's A-Ghosts had appeared. They looked just like regular ghosts, except that they had no eyes, no nose, no mouth and no ears. All they had was a face on which was painted Chinese characters, the same that were used on the Talismans that Blind Gerald and Dr. Fordyce used.

"Master Phantom133; Life Ghost133; Forever!" droned the ghosts simultaneously in a robotic-sounding voice. The four ghosts then rushed straight at Valerie.

"Yeah, well tell them they can shove it!" retorted Valerie, before she fired with her rifle and blew them apart with one well-aimed plasma shot. "Hold on tight!" she called out to Tucker, before she kicked her board into action and flew it straight out the open window. She steered it out over the streets and tried her best to ignore the swarms of Blue Bow A-Ghosts that floated through the streets. "Whoa!" she cried, as she swerved the board out of the way of an ectoplasmic blast that would have hit them if they had carried on in a straight line.

Valerie looked down.  
"Persistent, aren't they?" she commented, before she aimed her anti-ghost rifle down at the A-Ghosts below and opened fire. She managed to blast a few to smithereens, but the others dodged out of the way skilfully, before flying straight up at her.

"If you think they're persistent, you should get a look at the ones behind us," cried Tucker, as he looked behind him. He was sure they were the very same ghosts Valerie had coated the hospital room walls with earlier on.

"Time to lose them," said Valerie, before she tilted the board forward and put them into a dive.

"Are you crazy?" screamed Tucker, as they veered down towards the ground. He was all for action, but this was ridiculous.

"Crazy like a fox," retorted Valerie, as they veered downwards. "Are they following us?"

"What do you think?" cried Tucker in reply.

"Good," said Valerie abruptly. She then concentrated on flying the hover board down towards the ground. Valerie knew that she needed split second timing if she was to pull off this little stunt, as she delved into a little compartment on her utility belt. "I learnt this from one of the Blue Bow Soldiers," she told Tucker proudly, before she brought out a handful of something and threw it in front of them. She then slammed her foot on the board, causing its front to tilt upwards. She steered it upwards and the board curved away from the ground and they climbed back into the air.

A few of the A-Ghosts couldn't stop in time. They crashed straight into the glutinous rice grains that Valerie had thrown on to the floor. These ones stuck to it and cried out inhumanly, as they tried to pry free. Unable to do so, they suffered the pain of it until they crackled like a hologram with a failing power source and then dissipated into thin air.

"We've still got two bogeys on our tail!" cried out Tucker.

"Bogeys?" exclaimed Valerie. "Since when were you an Air Force pilot?" She turned round as best as she could and fired a shot at the ghosts. "Darn!" she cursed, as she missed them. "More are joining them," she announced. "We've gotta get backup."

"Danny's parents!" cried Tucker.

"That ghost-kid's got parents?" exclaimed Valerie.

Tucker suddenly realised his mistake and was wondering how he could fix the problem.  
"No, not him," he said, as if Valerie was nuts to even suggest Danny was a ghost. "Danny133; you know, Danny Fenton. The one whose parents are ghost hunters. They could help us beat the Blue Bow Army." He didn't even think, however, about the consequences of getting Danny's parents to join in the fight against the Blue Bow Army and against their own son.

"Okay, so where do they live?" asked Valerie.

"It's about the only apartment block with an observatory on the top," was Tucker's reply. "That one over there. The one with the big neon sign."

* * *

"This h-had better b-be important," growled Danny, as he floated into the Command Centre.

"Sir, we have some resistance in Sector X2," announced the soldier at one of the terminals. "Ten A-Ghosts have been destroyed and even more are being felled as we speak."

Danny frowned. He couldn't understand it. Who would fight against the might of the Blue Bow Army? It didn't make sense. Even the Amity Park Police Department had folded to their might. Who was stupid enough to take them on?  
"H-Have you got a lock on the insurgents?" asked Danny, as he floated up to the soldier.

"Um, yes sir," was the nervous reply from the soldier. "They seem to be heading in a north-westerly direction." He gulped nervously. "They're that red dot over there."

"Yes, I s-s-see," stuttered Danny with a nod of his head. "Where c-c-could they be g-g-going?" he wondered out loud, as he looked at the great big map at the other end of the room. "I'd understand if they were l-leaving the city or storming our h-headquarters, but133;" He trailed off, as he remembered what was in that part of Amity Park. "Th-They're heading towards F-F-Fenton W-W-Works," he said angrily. "W-W-With Fenton Technology, they can d-d-defeat us."

He didn't like the thought of that and what he hated even more was the thought of what they could do against him with all that Fenton Technology. Danny was starting to become very afraid, as he floated there in the Command Centre, watching the red blip continue in a beeline towards the point in Amity Park that he knew belonged to his family.  
"J-J-Jazz," he muttered under his breath quietly in a manner that made it impossible for the soldier to hear him. "Dad and M-Mom. They're a-a-all there." He grimaced at the thought of what technologies Jack and Maddie Fenton could have possibly created, technologies that could possibly threaten him.

"Excuse me, sir?" asked the soldier, who had realised that Danny had said something but couldn't quite hear what he had said. He received no reply. "Master Phantom, sir? What are your orders, sir?"

"Have all n-n-nearby units c-c-converge on F-F-F-Fenton Works," ordered Danny sternly. "Order them to d-destroy everything. B-B-Burn the place to the ground and make sure that n-n-no one escapes alive."

* * *

"Long live Master Phantom and Life Ghost133; The New World is nearly ready to begin. Resistance is pointless."

"I'm not going to let some faceless ghosts push me and my wife around!" shouted Jack Fenton, as he aimed his Fenton Ghost Peeler straight at the advancing ghosts. "Take this, ghost fiends!" He pulled the trigger and let rip with a beam of powerful energy that flew through the air and struck the A-Ghosts in the chest and blasted them backwards. He watched as the ghosts were peeled to shreds to reveal what looked like circuitry underneath, which in itself then disintegrated. "Ha! There's nothing like seeing your inventions in action!"

He spotted something out of the corner of his eye. Jack Fenton whirled round and opened fire, blasting a couple more A-Ghosts with the Ghost Peeler before they could even get near her wife.  
"No one gets the better of a Fenton!" he cried out.

"Honey, look out!" cried Maddie, before she fired a ghost-catching net through the air, bagging herself a couple of A-Ghosts.

"Thanks, Maddie," said Jack with a wink.

Jazz quickly sneaked down into the basement, whilst her parents were occupied with the ghosts that were flooding the place. It was not that she didn't want to fight alongside her parents in protecting their home, but it was something else. She had a sneaking suspicion that they were heading towards their parents' lab and if they were all upstairs protecting the house, then who was downstairs protecting the lab and preventing them from recruiting more ghastly apparitions from the Ghost Zone?

Armed with a Fenton Ghost Peeler, Jazz quickly descended the stairs and rushed into the laboratory, just as the Blue Bow Army's A-Ghosts floated through the floor, ceiling and walls.  
"I knew it," she muttered under her breath, as she pressed a button on the Ghost Peeler and let it turn into an armour suit that covered her entire body. "Hey! No faces! Over here!" she shouted, before she aimed the Peeler at the incoming ghosts.

The moment they turned their heads to face her, Jazz quickly opened fire. The first ghost she caught screamed inhumanly, as it flailed wildly. Its outer layers peeled off to reveal a bunch of wires and circuitry that fell from the air and crashed into the ground with a heavy thud. The next ghost did the same. Jazz turned the Ghost Peeler on one A-Ghost after another, not caring for why there was so much circuitry inside of them.

A sudden groaning noise as of metal being moved made Jazz turn round. She gasped and dived out of the way, narrowly avoiding being crushed underneath the weight of a metallic cabinet.

"You're gonna pay for that!" cried Jazz, before turning the Ghost Peeler on the A-Ghosts that threw the cabinet and shredding them apart with a well-aimed energy ray.

Ten more A-Ghosts suddenly rose up out of the floor, their arms held limply against their sides and their heads sloped forwards as if they had all their energy drained out of them. All ten of them raised their arms and clapped their hands together as if in prayer. Each one of them suddenly started to shudder, before they slowly drew their hands apart to reveal the sphere of ectoplasmic energy they were charging up. As their hands drew further apart, the spheres of ectoplasmic energy grew larger and larger, until each one started to glow as brightly as a million suns.

"Oh no you don't!" protested Jazz, as she aimed the Ghost Peeler straight at the A-Ghosts. "It's time for you to make a banana and split."

Another ghost suddenly rose out of the floor in front of Jazz. It lashed out and its hand reached into the circuitry that made up the armour, before it pulled its hand out and yanked a couple of wires straight out from the suit. There was a spark, before the suit shuddered and retracted back into its gun-shaped casing.

Jazz suddenly felt as if someone had taken the spark of rage right out of her. It was as if the ghost had not only ripped out the wires from the Ghost Peeler, but also her courage and her backbone and all the rage she had felt against these ghosts, leaving her with nothing but a tangible fear of death that lingered on her taste buds like some horrible medicine.  
"I hope you guys knew I was kidding," said Jazz sheepishly. "Really. I didn't mean any of it. No harm done, right?"

Ten spheres of ectoplasmic energy suddenly hurtled straight at Jazz.

She screamed.

There was an explosion as the spheres smashed into a solid object and dust filled the air.

Jazz opened her eyes to find herself floating off the floor.  
"Danny?" she exclaimed, as she turned round to face her saviour. "You're not133; Tucker? What are you doing here?"

"Saving your behind," was Tucker's reply. "What does it look like?"

"Who's that with you?"

Valerie smiled underneath her helmet.  
"Just the cavalry," was her reply, as she aimed her anti-ghost rifle down at the ten A-Ghosts. "Say cheese!" She pulled the trigger and let rip with a shot that struck the middlemost of the A-Ghosts and blasted it apart, destroying the others around it in the explosion.

"We've got to protect this place," said Jazz desperately, as she got on the board. "Those ghosts may be trying to open the Portal over there." She frowned. "Say, how did you get in?"

"Through the front door," was Tucker's reply. "Duh!"

"How were my parents doing?" asked Jazz.

"Parents? How should we know?" was Valerie's reply, as she picked off a few more A-Ghosts with her rifle.

"But they were at the front door!" protested Jazz.

Without warning, ten more A-Ghosts suddenly descended down from the ceiling, glaring sightlessly at them. Five of them had blaster guns in place of their right hands and floated in front of them, whilst the other five had wickedly sharp blades instead and floated behind them. Ten more rose up floated through the walls, five of them floating in to the right of Jazz and company, and the other five floating in from the left. Of those ten, five had shields in place of their left hands and maces in place of their right hands. The other five had huge right hands that were clenched into impossibly large fists.

"We're surrounded!" exclaimed Jazz, as she looked around her.

"Well, I'm not going down without a fight," protested Valerie sternly. "No ghost is going to get the better of me."

Jazz didn't know why, but she felt as if she had to tell Valerie that these weren't ghosts. After all, what ghosts had circuitry inside of them?  
"I dunno, these don't seem like ghosts to me," she said, as she looked around her. The way the ghosts didn't seem to move freaked her out. Why weren't they moving?

"They sure look like ghosts," retorted Tucker, as he looked around him. "What else could they be?"

"What ghosts have circuitry inside of them?" retorted Jazz.

Tucker was about to say that Jazz had a good point there, before he noticed that on the chest of each of the ghosts was the symbol of the Blue Bow Army. He knew they had something to do with Blue Bow, but he had never noticed those huge symbols before, possibly because the ghosts themselves were blue, as was the symbol itself.  
"Blue Bow Ghosts, that's what," said Tucker, upon remembering where they came from. "The Blue Bow Army's been doing lots of freaky things over at Roslyn. I bet they made these ghosts."

And Tucker had a strange feeling that they had somehow used Danny as a template. After all, what was the point of keeping a half-ghost locked up in the hospital and kept unconscious? They were obviously studying Danny and perhaps these strange faceless ghosts were the product of those studies. He wondered. What else would the Blue Bow Army be able to do now that Danny was their Leader?

"Carve it onto the world," droned the A-Ghosts. "The name of our ruler133; Phantom! Phantom! Phantom!"

The five A-Ghosts in front of them aimed their guns at the three humans. The barrels of their weapons began to glow with an eerie green energy, as they charged up for a powerful shot. The five behind raised their swords, which crackled with ectoplasmic energy. The five to the right raised their shields. The five to the left raised their huge fists.

As the five A-Ghosts with cannons for arms opened fire, the other ten ghosts rushed towards them.

"Take this, you faceless freaks!"

There was a great whirring sound as that of a vacuum cleaner before five of the ghosts were suddenly dragged back. These were the ones with huge fists for arms and though they attempted to fight back against the force that drew them in, they were unable to do so. The A-Ghosts lost the battle and were suddenly sucked backwards into the vacuum cleaner that Jack Fenton held in his hands.  
"That'll teach you to harass my family and wreck my lab," he said with a great big smile on his face.

"That's right," commented Maddie, before used her own Fenton Weasel and aimed it at the ghosts with cannons for arms. She flicked the switch and sucked them up.

This was the chance that Valerie had been waiting for. With the A-Ghosts distracted, she took aim and fired at the A-Ghosts with swords for arms. She hit the middle one in the formation of five. Her shot struck the circuitry inside, causing an electrical surge that made the middle A-Ghost explode with such force that it took out the other four A-Ghosts around it, sending ectoplasm flying through the air.

Valerie then whirled round and fired at the remaining A-Ghosts, her shot bouncing off their shields. She cursed angrily, before one of the A-Ghosts rushed forwards and struck the hover board with its right fist, sending it flying. She fell off it, as did Jazz and Tucker. All three of them fell to the ground in a crumpled heap.

"You get away from my daughter!" cried Maddie, before she rushed in with a Ghost Grabber and struck at the A-Ghost with a hefty punch that knocked it backwards. She glared at the faceless ghosts angrily. "If any of you dare touch my daughter, if you had eyes, you wouldn't be able to see with them for weeks!"

Being the mindless automatons they were, these threats fell on deaf ears. The A-Ghosts were not concerned with pain. They were not concerned about their own survival. Each one was only concerned with following the Orders of their Great Leader, Master Danny Phantom. They existed to serve the Blue Bow Army and the Ideals of Master Phantom.

All five of them rushed straight at Maddie at once.

Maddie lashed out with the Ghost Grabber, making a fist that knocked the head straight off the first A-Ghost's shoulders. With the large metallic gloves, she grabbed the now headless ghost and tossed it against the others, bowling them over.  
"All right! Who else wants some?" she cried.

"I d-do! I-I do!"

A hand reached up from the floor and grabbed Maddie by the leg. Instantly, her entire body began to glow with a sickly green aura before a change appeared on her face. What once was an expression of pure rage, compounded with fierce determination, became a depressed look of pure sorrow and misery. It was as if someone had flicked the switch and altered her mood completely, reminding her of the insignificance of her actions and of all the wrongs that she had been guilty of in the past and of all the things that were beyond her control.

"Maddie!" cried Jack Fenton, before he rushed towards his wife. "Hang on!"

A-Ghosts descended down and suddenly grabbed Jack Fenton by the arms, one on either side of him, just as the aura around Maddie turned into a black glow which leapt from her body and on to Jack Fenton's. It enveloped him and the expression on his face altered in the same way Maddie's had done. Though he had been standing proudly before, he shoulders soon slumped and his entire body sagged before he collapsed on to the floor with a heavy and depressed sigh.

A feminine laugh echoed all around them.  
"F-Foolish humans," laughed the apparently bodiless voice, "r-resistance is futile. Soon, the G-Greatest Thing will awaken and w-with it will come a new chapter in our glorious h-history!" The voice laughed again. "Yes, and with the c-combination of M-M-Master Phantom and the Life Ghost, the New World will be born and it will all start here in this c-country, here in Amity

Park!"

Something suddenly appeared next to Jack Fenton, or rather, somebody. Though it was not completely visible, invisible in other words, it still had a slight eerie glow to it that made it possible for them to see what it was. It became one person with red hair, dressed in a red suit with a pin on the lapel shaped like the Blue Bow Insignia and of the same colour.

"I recognise her!" exclaimed Jazz. "Isn't that133; Dr. Spectra?"

The red-haired woman ghost smiled.  
"I see y-you recognise me, J-J-Jasmine F-Fenton," she said, pronouncing Jazz's full name spitefully. "That's g-good, because I133; I haven't forgotten you. Oh yes, I still r-r-remember133; remember how you peeled me like a banana! If it weren't for D-Doctor133; Dr. O'Donnell bringing me b-back, I would have remained in the Ghost Zone forever."

Valerie shook her head.  
"I don't believe it," she exclaimed. "Dr. Spectra was a ghost?"

"Yeah," replied Tucker with a slow nod of his head. He remembered her well. "She used her powers to make everyone in school miserable."

"That's a-all in the

past now," replied Spectra with a smile on her face. "You mustn't d-d-dwell133; dwell on the past. That's b-bad psychological behaviour." She chuckled. "You're all f-focusing133; f-f-focusing too much on the past," she continued. "You've got t-to133; to let go of the old, to embrace the new133; the b-brand New Era133; Era ruled by the Blue B-Bow Army133; by M-M-Master133; M-Master Phantom!" She giggled, as she rose her arms into the air and suddenly burst into shadowy flames that engulfed her body, making her seem like one huge shadow.

Her nails sharpened into claws. Her hair became a fiery mass of black shadows. Her face became black and featureless, save for her smile filled with vicious, sharp, white teeth, and her left eye that glowed an eerie green. It was the only eye that remained on her face, as the other one seemed to have had disappeared underneath the black shadows that covered her human form.

Spectra laughed, as she rose up into the air, her legs becoming like a spectral trail.  
"D-Don't you worry, I'll help you133; you get over the past," she told them. "I'll make sure you l-let go of the

past and your lives!" She laughed even more loudly, as she raised her arms and summoned more A-Ghosts that rose up out of the floor like steam rising from a boiling cauldron. "We w-will not allow you to l-l-live. For133; F-For the Grand Ideals of133; M-M-Master Phantom, for the N-New W-W-World133; that he shall b-build on the Ashes of the Old, both y-you and this lab133; this lab will cease to exist!"

"Wasn't Da133;?" began Tucker, only to trail off. "Wasn't Phantom the one that sealed you in the Ghost Zone in the first place?"

"Long live M-M-Master Phantom133; Life Ghost!" cried out Spectra, before the A-Ghosts rushed towards Valerie and Tucker and Jazz.

Valerie picked off the A-Ghosts with her rifle, before she then took aim to shoot Spectra.  
"Take this!" she cried, before pulling the trigger and firing a beam of energy straight at the shadowy ghost. "What?" she exclaimed, as she saw the beam bounce straight off Spectra as if it hadn't done anything.

Spectra laughed.  
"Is that133; all y-you've got?" she taunted Valerie. "Stupid h-human. Here, have a t-taste of my new133; new improved

power." She raised the finger of her right index finger, which soon crackled with electricity, before pointing it straight at Valerie and letting rip with a bolt of electricity that leapt through the air.

It never hit, as Valerie leapt out of the way and rolled across the ground, to end up in a squatted position away from Jazz and Tucker. She leapt out of the way again, narrowly avoiding Spectra's sharp spectral claws that would have shredded through her like a cat's claws through curtains. Valerie grabbed a few small anti-ghost explosives and flung them at Spectra, only for them to bounce harmlessly off the ghost and land on the metallic floor. They exploded, releasing a concentrated liquid made from glutinous rice.

She couldn't understand. What was going wrong? Why was this ghost so powerful compared to others she had fought? Did it have something to do with the shadowy aura that seemed to cover Spectra completely? Perhaps that was somehow protecting the ghost and preventing her attacks from even harming her?

Suddenly, the A-Ghosts that Spectra had summoned suddenly caught up with Valerie. Each one was armed with cannons for arms and they opened fire on Valerie, firing plasma bolts at the ghost hunter. None of them hit her, as she dodged their plasma shots. She leapt and ducked underneath each one, running towards them and sliding underneath shots and leaping over shots.

Valerie ran past Spectra and the plasma shots hit the shadowy ghost, only to bounce off harmlessly.

With one sudden movement of her arm, Spectra swept out and grabbed Valerie by the shoulder, her claws digging in to Valerie's flesh. She then effortlessly threw Valerie through the air, before thrusting her other hand out and firing a sphere of shadowy energy from the palm of that hand. It flew through the air and she watched with a pleased smile on her face, as the sphere of shadowy energy struck Valerie in the chest, searing into the suit as if it was acid.

Jazz didn't remember ever having seen Spectra fight before, but she remembered the last time someone had struggled against the psychologist ghost. It was Danny that had last fought against Spectra and she remembered seeing him struggle against her powers but to no avail. Jazz could still remember how it had been the Ghost Peeler that had rendered Spectra vulnerable and allowed Danny to suck her up into the Fenton Thermos. But her Ghost Peeler had been destroyed, rendered inactive by one of the ghosts.  
"She's not going to be able to beat her," said Jazz with a heavy sigh and a shake of her head. "We need to hit her with the Fenton Ghost Peeler first."

"What makes you say that?" asked Tucker curiously.

"Never mind," protested Jazz, as she lifted her damaged Ghost Peeler. "Just help me find one of these." She turned round and suddenly noticed that more of the ghosts had infiltrated her parents' lab. "After we deal with these freaks first," she added. "Any suggestions?"

A devious smile spread across Tucker's lips, as he watched the A-Ghosts advance towards him.  
"Yeah," he replied with a nod of his head. "It's time to get old skool on their hineys." He delved into his pocket and brought out a handful of glutinous rice they had borrowed from a Chinese grocery on their way to the Fenton home. "Eat this!" he cried, before throwing the grains through the air.

"What's up with that?" asked Jazz and then she received a short explanation from Tucker, which, coming from Tucker, was still pretty long. "Huh. Who knew?" was all that Jazz could say in reply to Tucker's explanation. "Well, what are you waiting for? Give me some of that rice and let's get a move on!"

Spectra raised her arms upwards, both of her hands glowing with a light lavender energy. They sparkled and glowed, before globules of electricity, spheres of electricity, flew from her raised hands and skimmed across the floor towards Valerie. She screamed angrily, as she watched Valerie dodge each one. With a cry of pure rage, she rushed Valerie in an attempt to tackle her much like an American Football player would attempt to do. She missed as Valerie dodged her with the skill and grace of a bull fighter.

"Wretched h-h-human!" cried Spectra angrily, as she whirled round. "You c-cannot stop the c-c-coming of the New W-World! We shall c-c-carve out the name of our r-ruler on this w-world!"

"Oh yeah? Just try it," retorted Valerie, before she threw a few special shuriken through the air.

They stuck against Spectra's outer exterior but didn't seem to harm her in any way. It was almost as if the shadows that enveloped her were like some kind of thick and tough armour, yet the way those throwing stars were being absorbed, that didn't seem to be the case.  
"You133; can't hurt m-me," she laughed. "You and your133; silly little t-toys. You're just a c-confused133; little girl trying to f-find133; find meaning in your life. Well, get this133; this! You have none! You spent so much time as a spoilt little rich b-brat, you never d-developed a purpose133; purpose in life. Your only purpose was to b-be133; the d-daughter of a rich man, and that's been taken away f-from133; from you. You have n-n-no f-f-f-f-future."

"Shut up!" shouted Valerie angrily, before opening fire on Spectra.

"Oh, but it's true," continued Spectra, as she dodged Valerie's shots. She then lowered down on to the floor and disappeared through it, sinking through the floor as if it was made out of quicksand. "You'll never133; r-return to the l-life133; life you once knew," said Spectra and her voice seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at once. "You and133; and your family will stay

poor133; forever." She rose out of the floor from behind Valerie and quickly grabbed the ghost hunter by the shoulders. "It's not the g-ghosts' fault133; fault that you're poor. It's your133; your father's fault. It's your fault. Your e-entire family's a133; f-failure. Your133; Your father was a failure at his j-job. You're a failure133; failure at being a ghost hunter. All of this is your fault and your family's133; family's f-fault and taking your anger out on innocent ghosts w-won't133; won't do you any good!"

A smile spread across her dark lips, as her grip on Valerie's shoulders tightened vice-like.  
"Let's f-face133; face it, you're a spoilt, selfish little brat who t-t-takes133; takes it out on other people when you d-don't133; don't get your way," accused Spectra. "You blame everyone b-but the133; the person that deserves all the blame133; yourself."

Valerie felt Spectra's hold on her shoulders. She could feel the coldness of Spectra's hands and recognised the great knife of guilt that stabbed her in the heart and twisted its blade of remorse painfully. It was the same feeling that she had felt when she had first visited Dr. Spectra in Casper High and she recognised it, but now she knew it for what it was. Now Valerie knew what exactly Spectra was doing and that all that guilt wasn't all hers. Spectra was making things worse and Valerie knew that she had to fight it.

No, it didn't matter how much Spectra's words made sense. It didn't matter how true they were. All that mattered was that she had to fight this ghost that had made her even more miserable at Casper High. She had to. She had to resist Dr. Spectra's powers and break free from the chains of guilt that held her to the past, something which a real psychologist should have done.

"Hey!"

Spectra turned to face the person that called her.  
"W-What?" she cried, as she pushed Valerie in front of her. "You133; cannot h-harm me with th-that! It's b-b-broken133; broken, you silly l-little133; little f-fool."

Tucker smiled, as he wore the Fenton Ghost Peeler.  
"Oh, yeah?" he retorted. "Well, think again."

"Behind you!" called out Jazz, before she fired the fully functioning Ghost Peeler at Spectra.

There was a hideous scream from Spectra, as the rays engulfed her. The shadowy exoskeleton peeled off and then layer after layer peeled off, until all that was left was the old fragile ghost inside. She let go of Valerie, before staggering backwards away from Jazz and from the ghost hunter that she had held captive mere seconds ago.

Spectra blurred like the image on a television that was slowly losing reception thanks to bad weather. Something rose up out of her, a single eye in a sphere of blackness that blinked and then glared at the three kids coldly. It tilted down to look at Spectra and then tilted back upwards to look at the three humans, before it rose upwards and disappeared through the ceiling, and in doing so, the remaining A-Ghosts shuddered violently and then disintegrated.

"What?" exclaimed Spectra, as she clutched at her head. "Where am I? What133; What am I doing here?" She looked around her, as if she couldn't figure out for the life of her what had happened. "Him! I remember! Where is that half-ghost brat and that O'Donnell guy? I'll make them pay, I'll133;" she wondered out loud, before she made a choking noise as if a bone had stuck in her throat. "What? What's133; happening133; to me?" She shuddered and then opened her mouth into a soundless scream, as her body crackled like a television picture that was slowly losing its reception to heavy storms.

Tucker watched as Spectra's body turned into smoke that dissipated into the air.  
"Wow133; that Ghost Peeler133; vaporised her," he muttered under his breath.

"That's strange," murmured Jazz, as she looked at the Ghost Peeler. "It didn't do that the last time." Then again, a gigantic eye never rose up out of Spectra either.

"I wonder what she meant by the coming of the New World?" wondered Tucker out loud.

"I'm more concerned about that eye thing," was Valerie's reply to Tucker's question. "It133; Was it just me or did it seem as if that thing was controlling her?"

Jazz thought about it.  
"Yeah, I got that impression too," she said.

"Perhaps the Blue Bow's using that eye thing to control Danny too," murmured Tucker.

* * *

The place looked different.

"Looks like I'm not in Kansas anymore," muttered Sam under her breath, as she looked around her. "Where am I?"

The dark grey skies above loomed menacingly above her, threatening the world below with the prospect of rain or the absence of bright sunshine. The clouds seemed to stretch outwards forever, like the waters of the ocean in front of her, with its rolling waves that crashed up against the beach. It was a terrible eternity that stretched out before Sam and the winds that buffeted her body felt like gale force winds and they crashed against her much like the sea would have crashed against cliff faces.

Solemn lamp posts stood at intervals along the road that ran past the beach like guardians against the darkness. Though it was day and many were switched off, a few were inexplicably shining a dull red. Each one was painted a deep dark green, like the metallic railings that had been placed there to prevent pedestrians from falling off the sidewalk, down the perilous distance towards the beach below.

Sam turned round and saw the old Victorian-style buildings that stood on the other side of the road with their vast windows and wooden window shutters. It seemed as if they were staring at her accusingly, as she stood there by the railings by the seaside.  
"Amity Park doesn't have a beach," she murmured to herself. "Where am I?"

The last thing that she could remember was133; What was the last thing she could remember?

It was hard to think with the crash of the sea waves and the buffeting of the winds, that smelt so much like the sea. She didn't know why either. Why couldn't she remember what had happened to her, before she arrived here at this beach? What was the reason for her missing memories? Did she even remember her own name and from where she came from?

Think! Sam knew that she had to think. She reminded herself of her own name, saying it and pronouncing very syllable clearly, letting the sounds roll across her tongue and savouring their form and flavour. Samantha Manson, if she could remember her own name, if she could remember where she was born and when, perhaps that would be the trigger, the key that would help her release the rest of her memories. She knew that it would not be that simple and that there was far more she had to do to recover her own memories.

Sam shivered. It was getting very cold out there. What she needed was some warmth. She turned round and looked around her, but all she could see were the Victorian-era houses that stared down at her with vacant window eyes like living beings. There had to be a place where she could go, a warm place, like some kind of café or even, and she shuddered at this thought, a Burger Queen. Anywhere warm would be a welcome change from the cold winds that felt like cold, steel knives against her raw skin.

"You okay?" asked a voice that made Sam leap in fright and whirl round. "I'm sorry," apologised the black-haired man. "I didn't mean to startle you like that."

"N-N-No, it's okay," Sam stuttered.

The black-haired guy looked to be in his Twenties and he wore his hair long, tied back into a ponytail. It didn't stop a few strands dangling into his eyes, which he brushed back every now and then.  
"You look lost," he said quietly.

"Well, could you tell me where I am?" asked Sam curiously and waveringly, almost as if she was afraid to be in his presence.

There was something strange about the black-haired man's eyes, those pale, sky blue eyes that reminded her so much of someone she once knew. Now whom did he remind her of and for what reason? She couldn't tell. All she could do was just stare into those eyes, those eyes that seemed to be eternally deep like the rolling sea behind her. She felt as if she was falling into those eyes, those soulful eyes that expressed something like a pain of being used and being forgotten. What was it about those eyes?

"Roslyn Beach," was the man's reply. "You're freezing. Didn't you bring a coat or something?"

Sam shook her head, not just in reply to the man's questions. There was something else about him that she couldn't quite put her finger on. It was something about his voice that seemed so familiar to her. Yet why would she know this twenty-year old? She was fifteen after all, one year older than133; Than whom, exactly? Who was she older than?

"Here, you need this more than me," said the man, as he took his hooded coat off. He slipped it on to Sam, draping it around her shoulders.

"Danny! There you are!"

A girl with hair dyed light blue ran up to them. There was a sparkle in her eyes and a great big smile, as she ran up the sidewalk towards him. She rushed the black-haired twenty-year old and embraced him in the biggest hug that Sam had ever seen.  
"I'm so glad I found you," she said, as she kissed him on the cheek. "Why'd you run off like that?"

"I'm sorry, Erica," apologised the black-haired twenty-year old. "I just had to get away from them. You understand, don't you?" He sighed. "Those fan girls are so rabid. It's like they're piranhas in the water or something."

"That's the price of fame, I guess," said Erica, as she smiled up at Danny. She lowered her gaze momentarily and then saw that Danny had no coat anymore. "Oh, who's your fan?" she asked, the smile disappearing from her lips.

"I dunno," was Danny's reply, as he turned round to face Sam.

Never in her entire life had Sam ever felt like this before. It was as if someone had taken the courage straight out of her, as if someone had taken her backbone and left her a gelatinous mass of pure fear and nerves. She somehow found herself forgetting her name, despite having reminded herself of it only a few minutes before. Why was this? What was going on that made her feel like this?

"Another speechless fan," sighed Erica. "Just give her your autograph and let's get going."

"Oh, okay," said Danny in a tone of voice that almost sounded reluctant. "You got a pen, kid?" he asked Sam.

Sam didn't know what to say. She didn't want this man's autograph, whomever he was. All she wanted was her memories back and, of course, to know why he seemed so familiar to her. Why did he seem so familiar to her?

"Here," said Erica, as she plucked a pen out of one of her pockets and a pad of paper.

"Thanks," said Danny with a smile, before he signed the piece of paper. "Here you go," he said, as he tore the piece of paper off the pad. "Uh, here," he said more insistently but Sam made no motion to take it from him. "I'll put it in your pocket," he said, as he leaned over towards her, slipping the paper into the coat that had once been his as well.

"Come on, Danny," said Erica, as she hung on to the black-haired man's arm. "Let's get going. You must be freezing without your coat."

The two then walked past Sam, although it seemed more as if Erica was slowly dragging Danny away. It almost seemed to Sam, as she watched them walk past that Danny was reluctant to leave. She couldn't understand. Wasn't Erica his girlfriend and wasn't he cold without his coat? Sam knew what it felt like to be without a coat in the cold air that still whirled around her and buffeted her body.

Sam turned back round, away from the direction that Danny and Erica had taken. She bit her lip, as she stood there in Danny's coat, staring down the sidewalk. Something didn't seem quite right, yet she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Well, whatever it was, it had to wait until she could somewhere warm to stay for the time being.

The Goth girl shoved her hands into the coat pockets, but before she could take her first step, her fingers felt the paper that Danny had signed. She took it out of her pocket, curiosity getting the better of her, and unfolded the white sheet carefully with her back to the wind to keep it from blowing from her cold, white fingers. Sam read the signature and her eyes widened.

Just the act of reading it seemed to make things clearer in Sam's mind. She could remember Amity Park and the Roslyn Hospital. Sam could remember her friend, Tucker and more importantly, Danny. She could remember the formidable Blue Bow Army and its hold over the nearby Roslyn Hospital. She could remember how they had tried sneaking in to find this grey-haired youth that Danny had once met when he was there. She could remember how an overwhelming Blue Bow battalion had chased them out, but had overwhelmed Danny completely.

The piece of paper slipped out of Sam's hands and flew through the air. Winds buffeted it, making it soar away from Sam and down the street. It flapped, it fluttered and then it dropped over the railings and down the perilous five metre drop towards the sandy beach below. The paper fluttered down like a downed bird and slowly flopped on to the grains of sand.

One signature could be seen on the side that faced of the paper that faced skywards.

Danny Fenton, it read.

* * *


	11. Chapter 11: Dosed

Author's Note: Two songs are featured in this chapter. The first is _Sycamore Trees_ from the _Twin Peaks – Fire Walk With Me_ Sound Track. The other is called _Someday_ and was originally written by me for an original character from my story, _Cyberpunk Angel_. The lyrics for _Someday_, however, have been altered slightly from the version that can be read at my FictionPress account, so that it fits a straight male character.  
P.S. Some of you at this point may be very confused. Well, that's the point. I deliberately made it so you'll question what events are real and what aren't, just like Danny questioned the reality of first Streete Court and then the Hospital. Everything will make sense in the end, when I tie up all the loose ends, but for now, just try to think through everything slowly. Think of characters that are unaccounted for, like Zeross' granddaughter and Alex.

* * *

**Chapter Eleven: Dosed**

Sam couldn't understand what was going on, as she wandered the apparently deserted streets.

The last thing Sam could remember was being at the Amity Park Public Swimming Pool. She had been facing down Danny, her best friend, a friend whom had gone over to the side of the Blue Bow Army and taken control of it. Sam could still remember how she had faced him down and pleaded with him not to take the third of the Seals of the _Si Ling_, the very Seals that protected Amity Park from supernatural disaster of Biblical proportions. The last thing she could then remember was being dealt a terrible blow to her stomach, such a painful blow that she had lost all consciousness.

So how was it that she had come to be here?

And then there was Danny…?

Could it be coincidence that that twenty-year old had signed the paper, Danny Fenton? Could there be more than one Danny Fenton? It must have been true, though, for the Danny she knew was still fifteen-years old. She looked at her own reflection in a shop window and saw herself. She hadn't aged one bit, so it wasn't possible that she had been unconscious for five or more years.

Sam couldn't understand. What was going on and why were the streets so empty?

Could it be possible?

Was this world an illusion, like the one Fordyce had put Danny in when they Blue Bow Army first got their hands on him? If so, there had to be a way for her to escape it and find her way back to reality. Yet there was something about the world that didn't seem quite right, or rather, there was something in it that seemed more real than the rest of it.

Danny Fenton. That long-haired man that had met her near the beach. Was it possible that he was more real than the world they inhabited? Was it possible that he was more real than the Danny she had to face against at the Public Swimming Pool?

"Sheesh, what is up with that guy?" said a voice that seemed to come from up ahead. "Dr. O'Donnell looked like he was ready to chew me up. What's up with the Central Instrument Room, anyway?"

"Who knows?" was the reply from a second voice. "It's been out of bounds ever since Professor Zeross died in that accident. Not even the technicians are allowed back in anymore."

A frown appeared on Sam's face. Were those two talking about the Blue Bow Army? She remembered Danny talking about the Professor and O'Donnell, how they were at the dream school along with Fordyce. Sam had always thought that they too, like Fordyce, were members of the Blue Bow Army, though she had never met them herself and Danny had admittedly never seen them in real life. Still, she found herself running towards the source of the voices, in the hope that she could find out whom they belonged to and whether she could follow them to the Blue Bow Army's Headquarters.

"Well, I gotta get going before he gets even more pissed off with me," continued the first voice. "He asked me to bring him more enzyme. Man, he sure goes through a lot of that stuff."

Sam turned round the corner and the expression on her face fell. There was no one around. She couldn't understand it. She could have sworn that the voices came from round the corner. Sam listened and she could hear them still talking, as she looked around her. They were still around, just beyond her reach. She ran forwards in the direction she thought she could hear their voices coming from.

* * *

A new addition had been made to the balcony within the Central Instrument Room where the Ghost Powered Fate Determination Machine resided.

Danny sat calmly on the makeshift chair that acted like some kind of throne for him. It was a metallic chair with a computer built in that was linked to the network that ran throughout the entire room and all of Arcadia Tower. The computer even controlled the hydraulics that enabled the chair to turn round and currently kept it suspended above the ground by two metres.

He sighed, as he crossed his left leg over his right and leaned his head on his left arm, the elbow resting on the arm rest and his left hand clenched tightly into a fist.  
"Alethea, I still c-cannot see the I-I-Image of Our Ideal F-Future," said Danny irritably. "H-How much longer will it t-t-take for those A-Ghosts of y-yours to bring m-me the last S-Seal of the _Si L-L-Ling_?"

"Not much longer now, sir," came the reply from Alethea, as she stood behind the chair, facing the Fate Determination Machine. "I've received reports from the Command Centre. They say the A-Ghosts have nearly captured the last Seal." She looked up at the great hulk of the machine and at the body of Professor Zeross that lay within the glass sphere. "Sir, please forgive me for my impudence, but don't you think killing the Professor was a bit too drastic?" she asked Danny cautiously.

Danny uncrossed his legs and shifted in his seat.  
"B-Both Dr. Fordyce and O'Donnell insist that he's still a-alive," he replied.

The nurse looked up at the body of Streete Court's former Principal and the former Leader of the Blue Bow Army. She could remember serving him as a Matron in the school and as a nurse in the Hospital. Alethea had always been loyal to Professor Zeross, but when she found out that he had been killed… She didn't trust this Danny Fenton, not least because of his ruthlessness. There was something about him that didn't seem quite right. It was almost as if he was somebody else's pawn and she had a sneaking feeling that she knew whom was pulling the strings from behind the scenes.

"Sir, if you don't mind my asking, is it true you also sent A-Ghosts out to…" she began, only to trail off.

"Y-Yes?"

Alethea didn't know how to put it lightly. She didn't want to pry into his matters, knowing how ruthless he could be. If she pried too far, he would have her disposed of like how he had disposed of Zeross.  
"Is it true, sir, that you ordered A-Ghosts to destroy your own family?" she asked Danny.

"What impudence!" cried a voice that did not belong to Danny.

There was a whirring of gears as the chair in which Danny sat turned round. Alethea turned round too, but she managed to see Dr. O'Donnell long before Danny did.

Dr. O'Donnell didn't wear a lab coat like in those mad scientist movies. He knew better than that. Lab coats were meant to be worn in the laboratory to keep chemicals or biological agents off oneself. To wear them all over the place, was to put others at risk from whatever contaminants could have been on the lab coat. Only the medical doctors in the hospital wore lab coats around the place.

"Alethea, how bold you've become, to start questioning Master Fenton like that," said Dr. O'Donnell, as he walked towards her with his arms crossed behind his back. "If it weren't for the fact that Master Fenton is so forgiving, you'd have certainly lost your position and more," he said in a threatening manner, as he brought one finger up to push his glasses back up. "You should know your place, Ms. Richmond, and stay there." He then looked past her and up towards Danny, a smile spreading across his lips. "Master Fenton, I have good news for you," he told Danny.

One eyebrow rose upwards on Danny's face.  
"R-Really?" he asked O'Donnell curiously. "What is i-i-it?"

"Construction of the Life Ghost's base component is nearly complete," replied Dr. O'Donnell. "I have fused the Seals together and all I need now is the last Seal of _Si Ling_. Once that is fused, the base component will be joined to the base frame within the base vessel." He then looked down, as he scratched his left ear lobe. "However, I'm afraid I also have bad news," he added.

"B-Bad news?" asked Danny worriedly. "It isn't a-a-about F-F-F-Fenton Works is it?"

"No, no," replied O'Donnell with a shake of his head. "It's nothing of the sort, Master Fenton. No. It's something far more serious." He sighed, as he looked up at Danny. "This concerns Dr. Fordyce," he continued sternly. "Apparently, Fordyce has got it through his head that he could take your place."

"After he h-helped me t-t-take control?" exclaimed Danny in surprise. "Why w-w-would he want to oust m-m-me?"

"It would appear that he thought you'd be easier to get rid of than Professor Zeross," was O'Donnell's sad reply and he sounded genuinely concerned and shocked about the entire affair. "I'm as shocked as you are, Master Fenton," he told Danny, though there was something in his tone of voice that didn't sound quite sincere. "Michael has been quite a useful asset to us and a great colleague, but…" He trailed off and exhaled deeply. "Maybe it's all those ghosts he consumes. Perhaps, just perhaps, they're corrupting his mind. I think the ghost personalities he consumed may be taking over."

"I h-h-hate ghosts," said Danny. "N-N-Nothing good can c-come out of ghosts."

"Nothing, unless we have one hundred percent control over the way they think and act," agreed O'Donnell with a nod of his head. "Sir, I suggest that you take action!" he added, as he smashed a fist into the palm of his hand. "It is your duty to ensure that no one dares defy you. After all, you are the Leader of the Blue Bow Army and soon, the Blue Bow Army will rule over this world. You will be our Supreme Leader and no one can be seen defying you. It is imperative that you act now and stop him. No doubt, he will come in here on the pretence of protecting you from me, claiming it is I that is the one that is trying to usurp you."

O'Donnell shook his head.  
"But I ask you, Master Fenton, who is it that helped you claim the Blue Bow Army as yours?" he asked Danny. "Who was it that advised you and kept you from harm all this time?"

"Y-You are," replied Danny with a nod of his head. He then sighed, after a while of silence. "Y-You are r-r-right, Dr. O-O'Donnell," he agreed. "Dr. F-F-Fordyce must be p-punished."

Suddenly, the door to the Central Instrument Room burst open and Fordyce rushed in.

"Master Fenton!" he cried out, as he stormed across the metallic floor towards the raised throne. "Master Fenton! I must warn you about Dr. O'Donnell. He plans to…"

"That w-w-will not work, F-F-Fordyce," interrupted Danny sternly. "Dr. O'Donnell h-has kindly t-t-told me of your p-p-plans. I w-will not f-fall for y-your schemes." He shook his head. "N-No, you will n-n-not trick me," he added.

Fordyce looked at Danny and then at O'Donnell.  
"You!" he shouted, as he aimed a finger straight at O'Donnell. He swore at O'Donnell.

"Such language!" cried O'Donnell in mock horror. "Have you forgotten how young Master Fenton is? You certainly are a bad influence to him. It's a good thing that Master Fenton has decided to get rid of you now."

A smile spread across Danny's lips.  
"N-N-No," he told O'Donnell. "I h-have a much b-b-better idea…"

* * *

The streets seemed so empty to Sam. Why was that? She couldn't tell.

Even the shops seemed empty and dark. Each one looked devoid of anything, as if they had gone bankrupt years ago and nobody had come to buy the retail space. The streets were amazingly devoid of litter and life. Nothing stirred. It was almost as if this world was nothing more than an unused movie set. Not even the wind seemed to blow and nothing stirred even in the branches of the trees. Everything was still and silent, except for Sam and it was depressing and the grey skies above didn't serve to help lighten the mood.

Sam couldn't understand what was going on, especially after following those phantom voices. They were the only voices she had heard in this town save for that of Danny and Erica. They were the only two people she had seen in this town. Save for those two and the two mysterious people she had never found, they were the only ones.

Why did it feel as if this town had beeln evacuated, as if a terrible nuclear accident had happened nearby or as if a terrible virus had been unleashed?

With a heavy sigh, Sam collapsed onto a nearby bench. She felt so alone here in this town. First her memories had abandoned her, then it seemed just as she had gotten her memories back, the townsfolk had abandoned her to this empty town. How could anyone feel this lonely? Sure, she had always been alone even in Casper High whenever Danny or Tucker weren't there. She never fitted in with any of the other kids at Casper High, not that she wanted to. But she had never felt lonely before. Sam had always been content in the knowledge that she had friends, good friends, best friends, friends that would never abandon her because of something superficial like her tastes and the way she dressed and acted.

But one of her friends had abandoned her.

Danny had abandoned her because of some ideal. He had gone over to the Blue Bow Army…

"Stop thinking about that!" she shouted to herself. "Stop thinking about that! I know! I know Danny's Leader of the Blue Bow Army now! Stop reminding me!"

Something didn't quite add up, though. She knew that this was a dream world. It had to be. Nothing else made sense. She knew it was a dream world, partially because it wasn't tailored to fool her. This wasn't a dream world to imprison her. It was one to imprison someone else and the illusion was designed to fool that someone else, not her. It felt, almost, as if the dream world didn't even recognise her, as if it didn't even know she existed. After all, Sam wasn't even supposed to be there.

So who was this dream world designed to imprison?

Perhaps it was designed to imprison the Danny Fenton that she met near the beach? If so, then that meant… That meant that the Danny she had seen at the pool was a fake. Could it be, that perhaps the Blue Bow Army had managed to evict Danny from his own body and replace it with a ghost fragment of his own personality? That would have explained the strange stuttering of the Danny she had had to face against at the Public Pool.

Sam began to wonder. If this Danny in this world was the Danny she knew, then if she could awaken him, would she break the Blue Bow Army's hold over him? With him back to his normal self, he would surely be able to destroy the Blue Bow Army from within and end the nightmare they had started.

Ghostly images started to appear down the street. Transparent trees and cars and vans and people suddenly appeared all around Sam, and gradually became more real until they looked as solid as she did. The shops started to change and soon they looked as if they had been in business for years and their wares looked fresh and new as did their windows and window displays. It was as if the entire world was reappearing around her.

That could only mean one thing.

"Danny's coming," muttered Sam under her breath.

The only question was where he could be. There were so many people around her now that it was almost like searching for a needle in a haystack.

Sam rose up from the bench and looked around her. She stepped up on to the bench to gain some height, but still to no avail. It was difficult to see where Danny could be, especially what with there being so many dark-haired people around. She wondered. How could she find Danny? Was there a simple way to search for him?

Well, she knew one thing for sure. If this was a prison for Danny, then there had to be someone nearby to keep an eye on him, to make sure that no external factors would awaken him. Sam thought carefully. If that was the case, then perhaps all she needed to do was look for the one person that Danny would always be with or near. If she did that, then surely she would be able to find Danny, and Sam had a sneaking suspicion that that Erica girl was the person designated to keep an eye on Danny.

It shouldn't have been too hard for her to search for someone with light blue hair, especially what with there being so few people with light coloured hair or unnaturally coloured hair around.

There! Sam spotted Erica and with her was the black-haired twenty-year old that shared Danny's name.

Sam wasn't exactly sure why Danny was so old in this world and why he didn't recognise her, but she knew she would find out sooner or later. If she continued to prod away at the seams, she would eventually tear the fabric of this illusion world. In doing so, Danny would have to realise that this world he was living in was nothing more than a lie and he would be forced to wake up.

The black-haired girl leapt down from the bench and hurried past the crowd of people that didn't seem to even recognise her existence. Many of them collided with her and got in her way. None of them seemed to see her or even recognise that she was there, even after they had collided with her. Sam found herself fighting her way through the crowd, trying her best to push her way through it in an attempt to get to Danny and Erica before they could disappear out of sight again. She couldn't allow herself to lose sight of Danny. She just couldn't.

Up ahead, Danny and Erica walked into one of the shops.

Sam followed suit, after she finally managed to find a break in the crowd. She pushed through the door and entered, to be greeted by a scene she had never expected. It was something she should have expected though. With the clinking of glasses and the aroma of tobacco smoke, the smell of beer wafted through the air along with the smell of greasy food that had been deep fried.

"I got idea man," sang the man clad in an all blue suit, as he stood on the stage opposite Sam. "You took me for a walk… Under the Sycamore Trees." He swayed slightly, as he stood there on the stage, illuminated by a harsh spotlight that looked bright enough to peel his skin right off his flesh. "The dark trees that blow, baby!" he continued to sing. "In the dark trees that blow!"

Sam looked around her carefully to see where Danny could have gotten to. It wasn't a large bar, but there were certainly a lot of people. She couldn't seem to see Danny anywhere, which was strange, coz she could have sworn she had seen him enter this bar. Was it possible that she had been wrong?

"And I'll see you," the man continued to sing, bathed in the impossibly bright spotlight. "And you'll see me…"  
"And I'll see you in the branches that blow…"  
"In the breeze."  
"I'll see you in the trees."  
"I'll see you in the trees…"  
"Under the Sycamore Trees."

The song had a menacing tone to it that Sam hadn't quite anticipated. It had a captivating nature to it that seemed almost spell-binding. Perhaps it was the slow nature of it, the sadness or that hint of what sounded like an organ. Maybe it was the fact that he had suddenly stopped and started playing a saxophone in a slow, sad and slightly menacing way. Whatever it was, it made Sam feel very unwelcome as she stood there in bar, without a drink, without anyone, all alone within a crowd.

"And I'll see you," repeated the man. "And you'll see me."  
"And I'll see you in the branches that blow…"  
"In the breeze."  
"I'll see you in the trees."  
"I'll see you in the trees…"  
"Under the Sycamore Trees."

The spotlight suddenly died and it seemed as if the man in blue had disappeared altogether. There was no round of applause from the bar's patrons, as if they hadn't been listening to a single bit of the song. Not that they had. Throughout it all, they had been talking and chatting, as if the song wasn't meant for their ears or as if they didn't hear it at all. Even when the song ended, they continued as if nothing had happened.

Sam frowned.

It seemed that one phrase was prevalent amongst the chatter of the customers around her.

The Phantoms.

The way they talked, it was like they were talking about a band. Each one of them was excited to be there, as if they were waiting for the band to appear up on stage and start performing. Perhaps that was why they were all there.

It didn't make sense though. As far as Sam could remember, Danny had never been much of a musician. Sure, his singing was no way as bad as Tucker's (then again, nobody's singing could be as bad as his), but it wasn't the best there was around. Maybe the Danny she had attempted to find wasn't the Danny she knew. Perhaps it was some other Danny, another Danny whose name may have coincidentally been the same as that of the Danny she knew.

"Welcome to the Blue Rose!" announced a man that had stepped up on to the stage. "Thank you all for coming tonight. I'm sure you've been waiting a long time for this, so I without anymore delay, please give a hand to The Phantoms!"

Sam watched as the curtains drew aside and her mouth hung open.

Standing there in the middle of the stage was the twenty-year old Danny Fenton, dressed in the same clothes that the Danny Fenton she once knew would have dressed in. He wore the same white T-shirt with the red spot design on the chest and the same light blue jeans with the same trainers, and the only exception was that he wore a black long-sleeved T-shirt under his white one. If it weren't for the fact that he was older and had longer hair tied back into a ponytail, he would have been the exact spitting image of the Daniel Fenton that Sam once knew.

"No way," murmured Sam, as Danny started playing.

"The Dreams I longed for are still not true," Danny began singing, as he strummed the chords on his guitar, "And this cold world seems so unkind."  
"Why is it that I can't be with you?  
"This question won't leave my mind."

Danny flung his head back and in doing so, the hairs that had gotten into his eyes flung backwards.  
"Sometimes I wish to surrender," he continued singing. "And give up chasing my beloved dreams."  
"But your smile makes me remember."  
"Nothing is perfect, it would seem."

The rest of the band seemed familiar to Sam, somehow, yet she couldn't quite figure out how. The way they were dressed, their hairstyles, the shapes of their faces… All looked so familiar to her. She was sure she had seen those band members somewhere before, but from where and when?

"And by my side we will find our true destiny," sang Danny, as the volume seemed to climax. "We will both find out the truth of our reality."

"Why is it that you just cannot see?  
"Why is it that we just cannot be?  
"This loneliness hurts me most  
"But that's life..."

"Why must we do this all over again?  
"Why can't you see that I am in pain?  
"Know that this isn't some phase.  
"No it's not.  
"I just wish that I could hold you in a sweet embrace."

Sam listened to those words. Were they expressing how Danny felt? Could it be possible that they were expressing his feelings for her? She wondered. It couldn't be possible, especially the way he kept denying his love for her and the way she did the same. Yet the way he always blushed whenever they got too close together… How could she not believe that he didn't secretly love her?

"What do you think you're doing here?"

It was at that point that Sam turned round. She recognised the light-blue-haired girl that stood near her as being Erica, the girl that had clung on to Danny so tightly. Sam recognised the utter disdain on Erica's face, the same look that she had given her back near the beach.  
"I've come to take Danny home," she said, but her voice was drowned out by the loudness of the music. "I know you're the one who's keeping him here and I won't let you get away with it!"

The music was so loud, Sam hardly heard her own voice. She couldn't in fact. All she could hear was the music of the band, the drums, the guitars and Danny's voice. Why was it so loud? This was a sad song. It shouldn't have been so loud.

Erica clicked her fingers and arms grabbed Sam.

Despite all she could try, Sam couldn't break free from the grip on her. She was dragged away and before she knew what was going on, she had been flung outside of the bar and into the alley to land with a thud on the black plastic bin liners filled with garbage.

"You stay away from my Danny," said Erica, as she stopped at the doorway. "He's mine now."

Sam looked up from the trash.  
"This world isn't real," she said sternly. "None of it's real. You can't keep him here forever. He'll find out eventually. Danny's smart. He'll figure out this entire world is a lie."

Erica laughed at Sam's comments.  
"You're just jealous," she retorted. "You're just jealous that he's my boyfriend now. Well, you know what? You can't have him back. You should have spent more time with him when you had the chance."

"He was not my boyfriend!" screamed Sam in protest, before chucking the nearest thing to hand at Erica.

That nearest thing just happened to be a half-rotten banana peel and it landed with a splatter on one side of Erica's face. It stuck there hideously, before slowly sliding down off her face to land with a splat on the alley floor. What were left on Erica's face was some yellowish slime and a look of pure rage. It was a terrible look of rage, that seemed so familiar to Sam. It was as if she had seen it before.

Something soon came back to Sam. Perhaps it was the look of rage on Erica's face that did the trick. Yes, with that blue hair and that look… All that was needed was some white face paint.

"Ember," said Sam calmly.

The blue hair erupted into what seemed like blue flames, as Erica's skin became a pale white. Her clothes changed to the very exact same ones she wore when Danny captured her in his Fenton Ghost Thermos. All that was missing was her guitar, which was nowhere to be seen.  
"That's right," she said angrily. "So you recognise me, eh, Goth Girl?"

"The name's Sam," protested Sam sternly, as she rose to her feet.

"Who cares?" retorted Ember dismissively, as she snapped her fingers.

Two bodyguards stepped around her to stand on in front of her menacingly. The two of them cracked their knuckles, as they stared Sam down, each of them glaring at her through sunglasses despite the night darkness. One of them adjusted the lapels of his suit, a suit on which the Blue Bow Army's Insignia adorned the breast pocket.

"Take care of this pest," said Ember, before she went back and closed the door shut behind her.

There was a crackle and two rings of light appeared around each of the bodyguards, before passing around their bodies. As each ring of light passed, their bodies changed, until they lost their human form altogether. All that was left was some blue ghostly form with spectral tails and the Blue Bow Army's symbol emblazoned on their chests. There faces were completely devoid of any orifices or any features, except for the Chinese characters that were inscribed in red across their visages.

Two ghosts against one human and a defenceless human girl at that.

The odds didn't look to be in Sam's favour.

Both ghosts rushed towards Sam. They flung their fists straight at her, but missed as she dived out of the way. The ghosts whirled round, looking around them for any signs of her.

Sam quickly slammed the trashcan over the head of one ghost and then kicked it over. She side-stepped another punch and then kicked it in the groin, or where the groin would have been if it were a male. But seeing as this ghost was androgynous, it didn't seem to hurt it much. Even worse was that her foot was stuck inside the ghost, as if it was made out of a gelatinous glue. She swore, as she hopped on one foot and tried her best to pull her other foot out of the ghost.

The ghost lashed out at Sam and grabbed her. It pulled her out of its body and then flung her into the trash bags again.

"Well, this is pleasant," said Sam sarcastically, as she tried her best to stand up. "Thank you for flinging me into that stuff again. Once was enough, but thanks again for giving me a second taste of trash." She picked rubbish out of her hair, flinging it aside, as she glared at the faceless ghost.

A metallic clanging noise made Sam turn round. She saw the other ghost had managed to slip out of the garbage can she had stuck over its head. Now it was going to be her against the two of them again and she was clearly outclassed and outnumbered. Sam knew these ghosts couldn't care less if she was a girl, and she was fine with that. There was no point in being selective about her own ideals. If it meant being treated like a normal guy would and being dragged into a fight, then she would have to put up with it.

After all, that was the entire point of feminism, wasn't it?

Still, there was a difference between that and being caught up in an unfair fight.

Then again, maybe Feminism was nothing more than a pipe dream…

"Dream," muttered Sam in sudden realisation. She remembered that she was in a dream world and in dreams, anything is possible. "This is a dream," she repeated to herself and then looked at the ghost behind her and at the ghost in front.

A smile spread across Sam's lips. She would show them that she was would be more of a match to them, regardless of her gender. Sam would teach these ghosts that a girl was just as tough as any guy.  
"Gender's got nothing to do with it," she said. "I'll take you both on and wipe the floor with your ghost butts." She lifted her foot and then grimaced at what she had stepped in. "And this floor really needs it," she added, before shuddering.

The ghosts rushed towards her.

Sam spread her arms out, the palms of her hands aimed at each ghost. She concentrated and imagined her energy focusing at her hands. Though fear struck her, she did her best to do nothing but concentrate on energy forming on the palms of her hands. She had to concentrate. She couldn't let her train of thought be broken by something completely irrelevant, or else her plan would surely fail regardless of whether it was going to work in the first place.

Then, like Danny, she fired two blasts of energy that flew through the air. Both beams of energy struck a ghost and incinerated it, tearing off the ectoplasm that protected its controlling circuitry and frying the wires and electronics underneath.

"That was easy," commented Sam, before she rushed towards the door and kicked it in.

There was nothing inside. It was almost as if the bar was deserted, as if it had gone bankrupt years ago and was now still empty. None of it made sense. She hadn't been outside for long, so how was it possible for the bar to be empty so quickly?

Still, it didn't matter. Sam knew how to find Danny. Wherever the town didn't look empty and looked reasonably normal, that was where he would be. Wherever the illusion looked the most real, that was where Danny could be found. And now that she knew how this world worked, a dream world, where she could fly if she really wanted to, she would be able to search from the sky.

* * *

The shades were pulled tightly, obscuring the light from outside. No, there certainly wasn't going to be any clichéd waking up to the sound of birds or rays of sunlight. In fact, if the curtains had been drawn back it would have revealed a dark, damp and grey sky with rain falling down in sheets.

Danny groggily opened his eyes and he was greeted with an unfamiliar bedroom, one that didn't look like his own somehow. Where was he and what was the time?

A sleepy mumble reached his ears and then Danny found he couldn't move much.

Previous thoughts dissipated like shadows in the light and Danny found himself wondering what he had been thinking about since he opened his eyes. Had he even been thinking or was he contemplating last night? Maybe he was contemplating last night and how everything had gone.

"Danny," sighed a voice that was soft and dry, as Erica lay behind the black-haired young adult with her arms wrapped around him. She hugged him tightly, snuggling up against him as if he was her favourite teddy bear, a few strands of blue-dyed hair resting across her face and a few resting on his bare skin, as she held him tightly to her body, her smooth skin against his own and her velvety lips parted ever so slightly.

How peaceful she looked… Well, he assumed she looked very peaceful, like the other times he had awoken to her company. Danny wanted to turn round and look at that peaceful face, like he had done once before. Oh, but she was a light sleeper and he didn't want to wake her. Rather, Danny let himself relax and decided to enjoy the moment, this calm after the storm. After all, these were possibly the best moments of their love. What could be better than this?

He smiled, as he lay there. Erica was his first fan and his first love. They had been going steady for quite some time and she was the one that kept him going through thick and thin. She had been his one inspiration. She had been the one that had inspired him to write the songs for the band. She had been the one to dig him out of his rut whenever he needed it and she was the one that meant more than anything else to him.

Yet, something didn't feel quite right. It was like nagging feeling at the back of his mind. Something didn't seem right about this, as if he didn't belong there with her.

"What you thinking?" asked a sweet, gentle and melodious voice that drifted into his ear.

And the thoughts disappeared once more, like Atlantis sinking beneath the waves. His eyebrow's rose upwards and furrowed. What had he been thinking about?  
"Just thinking 'bout you," was Danny's reply.

"Oh?" exclaimed Erica with a tone of feigned surprise. "Really? And what exactly where you thinking about me?"

"Did you know you snore really loudly?" blurted out Danny. "Just like this," he said and then he made a noise that sounded like a cross between a gargling pig and a snoring helicopter.

"What?" cried Erica loudly to the accompaniment of Danny's laughter. "I do not!" she protested, as she whipped the pillow out from underneath Danny's head and started whacking him with it. "You take that back, Daniel Fenton!"

Danny continued to laugh, as he tried half-heartedly to stop her from hitting him. He knew that no harm was meant by it all and he knew she knew that.  
"Hey, no fair," he said to her, as he reached out to grab her wrists. "Use your own pillow!"

"Nuh-uh," was Erica's reply, as she sat down on her pillow.

"Aw, come on," pleaded Danny, as he gave her his best puppy-dog eyes trick.

Erica tried her best to look away from him, but found herself unable to. It was almost as if there was something magnetic about his eyes.  
"Don't do that," she told him. "You look so pathetic when you do. Almost when the times you giggle like a girl."

"Hey, I don't do that!" protested Danny, his voice nearly breaking into a feminine squeak as he did so.

"Do too!" retorted Erica. "'Specially if I do this!" She then dove in for the attack, her fingers running over Danny's bare flesh and his flanks.

Danny was ticklish. That was a little known fact and he was quite susceptible to Erica's manner of doing it.  
"Hey, stop that!" he cried out between laughs, his voice squeaking, as he curled up in an attempt to hide as much of his flesh away from her roaming fingers. "Quit it! Cut it out! Okay, I give! I give!"

"Oh no, you're not getting away that easily," was Erica's reply to Danny's words of submission.

"Okay, I take it back! I take it back!" called out Danny. "You don't snore like that. I was only kidding!"

Erica sat back with a satisfied smile on her face.  
"There, that wasn't so bad now was it?" she asked him, with her arms folded across her chest.

Danny turned to look at her with a hurt look on his face, or rather, a mock-hurt expression on his face.  
"You're mean," he said.

"Oh, lay off it, Danny," retorted Erica, as she looked into his eyes lovingly.

The feigned hurt look on his face was soon replaced with a loving smile, as Danny looked into Erica's emerald green eyes. He wanted to say something, but he found that he couldn't. Words seemed intangible to him. Even though they had been going steady for quite some time, he still found it difficult to tell her that his passion burned white hot with the intensity of a thousand suns. It was almost as if a cat had stolen his tongue straight from his mouth while he wasn't paying attention. His mouth would always feel dry and sticky, that is, until Erica broke the awkward stillness by leaning in to kiss him.

Danny couldn't help but feel strange as the kiss deepened on Erica's insistence. Why was it that the novelty had not worn off even after so many times? Every kiss seemed like the first to him. Every kiss seemed to burn his lips, as if her own were made from red hot coals. Yet he wouldn't have it any other way. This was what he was used to. This was what he expected from her. He couldn't possibly imagine being with any other girl. Whenever they kissed, she seemed to be the only one for him and no matter how hard he tried to think, even though he couldn't, he could never dream of being with anyone else.

Erica was the one to break off the kiss.

"I love you," said Danny.

"How much?" replied Erica, as the smile on her face widened.

"Um…" was Danny's reply.

"Enough to make me breakfast?" asked Erica in an innocent tone of voice.

"Yeah, okay," agreed Danny, as he unwrapped his arms from around her lithe body. He sat up and then looked around him. "Um… where're my pants?" he asked curiously.

Erica smiled, as she looked around.  
"I don't see them," she told him. She then looked at him, as he searched around the bed naked. "Why don't you go make breakfast naked?" she suggested with a giggle.

Danny turned round quickly with a look of surprise on his face. It was a shocked look, but it soon dissipated and a smile spread across his lips.  
"Oh, I get it," he said in an accusing tone of voice. "Where are they?" He waited a while. "Come on, Erica. Where are they?"

The doorbell suddenly rang.

"I wonder who that could be?" wondered Danny out loud, as he turned round. And in turning round, he failed to notice a displeased look spread across Erica's face. He heard the doorbell ring again. "I'd better go get that," he said, as he got up from the bed. He didn't get very far though, before a hand grabbed him. He turned back round. "Erica, let go!"

Erica shook her head.  
"Danny, please," she whispered. "Don't go. Stay here. Stay here with me."

"I'm sorry, but I have to go get that," apologised Danny, as he wrenched his arm free from her grip. He walked out of the bedroom and stopped by the bathroom to grab a towel to wrap around his waist, before proceeding downstairs and opening the door.

Standing on the other side was a fourteen-year old with black hair. He wore the same white T-shirt that Danny wore at the gig the night before and the same jeans and the same shoes, only a few sizes smaller. The teenager also wore a mischievous smile on his lips and there was a strange glint in his eyes, as he stood there at the door with his finger on the doorbell.

Danny frowned. There was something about this kid that seemed familiar to him.  
"Um… hi," he greeted the kid.

"Who is it, Danny?" asked Erica from the stairs. She then gasped. "No! It can't be!"

"Yeah? Well, think again," retorted the teenager, before a ring of light passed over his body and he changed, his hair becoming snow white and his sky blue eyes becoming an eerie green that glowed like a fluorescent light.

"But… if you're Danny, then who's this?" cried Erica, as she pointed at the twenty-year old in the towel cloth.

A look of rage passed across Erica's face, before she transformed back into her real form, that of Ember McClane. She aimed her right hand at the fourteen-year old Danny Phantom and fired a blast of purple energy down at him.  
"I thought I put you under my spell," she said, as her energy blast missed both Danny's. "Well, this time round, I'll make sure you never wake up from this dream!"

"Erica?" exclaimed the twenty-year old Danny.

The white-haired Danny flew straight at Ember, but before he could even get to Ember, he was pinned down by another fiery blast from the white-faced ghost. He crashed down on to the floor and just before he could get up again, Ember landed on top of him heavily, pinning him down to the floor with her weight.

Ember glared down at the white-haired Danny.  
"How?" she practically shouted at him. "How did you escape? When you arrived, I made sure to put you under my spell, to make you fall hopelessly in love with me so you'd never suspect the true nature of this dream. I was sure I had you." She turned to look at the Danny in the towel. "And who is that? Who have I been wasting my time on?"

"That's Danny," replied the white-haired Danny in a female voice, before a ring of light passed over his body and revealed him to be no one else but Samantha Mason.

A look of pure horror spread across Ember's face, as she let go of Sam and stepped backwards. She turned to look at the Danny in a towel, whom had been staring at her with a mixed expression of horror and shock.  
"No," she muttered under her breath. "No!" she screamed angrily, as she watched the illusion on Danny disintegrate.

The entire world soon faded away into a black void, in which only they were visible.

The twenty-year old Danny soon regressed and became his fourteen-year old self, now that Ember's spell had been broken.

Memories flooded back into Danny's mind. He remembered everything now, from the battle with the Blue Bow Army soldiers to drinking the tea of Lady _Meng Po_. All the other memories, of him meeting Erica and of him falling in love with her and going steady with her and making love with her… All of them seemed to fade away and become so fake and fabricated, as if they were nothing more than the scenes from a soap opera.

"Ember," said Danny, as he lowered his head, his hands clenched tightly into fists. "You…" he began and then trailed off.

This was the second time Danny's feelings had been toyed with by this ghost. He felt as if his heart had been torn out and stamped upon, just like the last time. This time was worse though, because he had done more than just fall in love. Though he was a forgiving person, he could never forgive Ember for what she had done to him. He could never forgive her.

Danny screamed angrily. He changed into his ghost form and a wave of energy radiated from his body. It swept over Sam and over Ember, and both girls closed their eyes, afraid of what the energy radiating out from Danny's body would do. Though it did nothing to Sam, it blasted Ember apart and with a shriek of pure agony, Ember was torn apart into various ghost particles that drifted away and faded away, unlike her scream which seemed to echo around them for ever.

When Ember's scream died down, Sam opened her eyes to see Danny still standing there, but panting heavily.

"Danny," exclaimed Sam, as she rushed over to him. "You okay?" she asked him in concern.

It seemed as if Danny was too out of breath to reply, or rather, that he had not heard Sam at all. She was about to ask him again, when he turned silently to look at her wordlessly with eyes that glowed an eerie green. Though they looked so unnatural, it was clear to Sam that this really was Danny that was looking at her. Those eyes of his seemed to be a window upon his soul, a gentle soul, a caring soul. There was no coldness in his eyes, unlike the version of Danny she had met at the public swimming pool, the version that had threatened to crush her head.

A faint smile spread across Danny's lips, as if it was forced.  
"I guess," he began, "I guess I'll be all right." He then looked in the direction in which Ember had once been and then back at Sam. He sighed. "I don't know… Maybe… Yeah, I guess I'll be all right."

Sam suddenly hugged him tightly.

"Whoa! Hey! What's this for?" asked Danny.

"I'm so glad I found you, Danny," she told him, as tears streamed down her eyes.

* * *

_Danny was still dressed in the body armour with the blue cape, as he sat there in the Central Instrument Room. This was the physical Danny, the Danny that existed in the real world and the one that was Leader of the Blue Bow Army. He was the same Danny that had cruelly ordered the destruction of his own family, the one that had killed Suimsalp and the one that had tried to drown both Sam and Tucker. This was the Danny that had appeared the morning after the failed attempt to sneak into the Roslyn Hospital Complex to find and rescue the entity known as Alex._

_He suddenly cried out in pain, his entire face wincing, as he clutched at his head. Danny felt as if something was wrong, as if there was another him trying desperately hard to force its way back into reality. He could sense it. There was another entity that was trying to take his place, to be him…_

* * *

Jack Fenton drove like a maniac down the road. It was not just the thought that his inventions had been used by the Blue Bow Army for its own devious purposes, not just the fact that he had helped them willingly, but that he had been made a patsy. That was what enraged him the most, that he had been tricked and deceived, and not only that, but he had been betrayed as well, as demonstrated by the Blue Bow's attack on his home and his family.

He would not let them get away with it. No, Jack Fenton would not let them get away with deceiving him and attempting to kill him and his family. As far as he was concerned, no one got the better of a Fenton. He would drive right up to and through the gates leading to Roslyn Hospital and teach the Board of Directors a lesson they would not forget. Jack Fenton would teach the Executives of the Blue Bow Army to never mess with the Fenton Family.

Suddenly, the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle veered off course.

"Jack, watch where you're going!" cried Maddie.

"I am!" protested Jack, as the RV veered off course again. "The road's shaking!"

Cracks were appearing in the tarmac and on the sidewalk. The trees were shaking. Cracks started appearing in the walls of the apartments. There was a terrible shudder and the road suddenly split right down the middle, along the road markings. A lamp post wavered and toppled over like a drunk to crash on to the ruptured ground, bridging the gap between the two halves of the now destroyed road.

"Earthquake!" cried Tucker.

Jack slammed his foot on the brakes as a section of the road lifted up in front of them like a crocodile's jaw. The RV skidded across the tarmac, the tyres screeching and rubber burning. It screeched to a halt just millimetres away from the cavernous hole in front that would have swallowed them hole and dumped them into the town's sewer system.  
"That was a close one," he sighed.

* * *

O'Donnell looked out towards Amity Park. He could see a few fires raging from split gas pipes and sections of the city blacked out from downed power cables, and that was without the binoculars he had brought with him. Seeing as everything seemed so clear from up on the roof of Arcadia Tower, he lowered the binoculars. And he smiled.

The earth around Amity Park seemed unstable.

That could only mean one thing.

"It would seem they've captured the last Seal of the _Si Ling_."

Finally, it would seem that O'Donnell's long life dream would come true. With the last of the ghost fragments, he would be able to complete the construction of the Life Ghost. He would be able to realise his dreams and ideals. The world would bow down to the Blue Bow Army and be united under one Leader. There would only be one Nation, a World Nation, and all wars would cease upon the unification of all races.

And he himself would become like a God.

* * *

Sam then finished telling Danny all about her encounters at the Swimming Pool.

"If you wake up, you'll be able to take back control of your own body," said Sam sternly.

Danny closed his eyes and sighed. He shook his head.  
"Sam, it isn't that simple," he told her. "I'm here in this world. It's close to where Alex is, I can feel it." He looked around him. "If I can… if I can find him, I can get him out of here, as I promised."

Sam didn't like the idea of that. If Danny stayed in this strange dream world, between the conscious and the unconscious, what would become of his physical body in the real world? Would it still be inhabited by that impostor personality that she knew must have been responsible for the death of Suimsalp?  
"Danny, you've got to come back with me," pleaded Sam. "You can always come back here later."

"I'm sorry, Sam," he apologised to her with a shake of his head. "I can't. Not now." He then smiled at her. "Don't worry, though. I won't be long. I promise."

"No, Danny! Don't go!"

* * *

Slowly, Sam's eyes opened to be greeted by a vast expanse of white.

For a while, Sam lay there, deep in thought. She thought about everything that had happened, about the dream world, about her encounter with Danny in the dream world. Sam thought about what it all meant. What did it all mean? Roslyn. Yes, it meant that she must be somewhere within the Roslyn Hospital Complex, after all, only the Blue Bow Army would have wanted her kept under and unconscious like that.

"You're awake!" exclaimed a feminine voice that Sam didn't recognise.

Sam sat up and then she turned to look at the woman that sat near her.  
"You?" she exclaimed in disbelief.

* * *


	12. Chapter 12: This is the Place

**Chapter Twelve: This is the Place**

"You?"

The person that sat next to Sam was none other than Alethea, the nurse that had accompanied Danny to the Public Swimming Pool to capture the Seal of Long Wang. Of all the people that Sam expected to see when she awoke, this nurse was not one of them. After all, was she not a member of the Blue Bow Army, the very enemy that Sam had been helping Danny resist all this time?

"Please forgive me," apologised the nurse, as she bowed her head.

"Forgive you?" asked Sam in surprise. That was certainly not something she expected to hear, but Sam wondered why the nurse was currently there begging her forgiveness. "Why should I?" she asked tentatively, in the hope that Alethea would explain herself.

Alethea look up at Sam with tear-stained eyes, eyes that were red from crying, eyes that wavered and failed to get a lock on Sam.  
"I'm sorry, for everything that's happened," she apologised to Sam. "I… I never thought that it would all come to this. When I first worked for Professor Zeross, everything was so simple. He abhorred violence. He never liked Fordyce and O'Donnell's methods and did his best to keep them in their place."

Sam shook her head.  
"I don't understand," she told Alethea. "What are you getting at?"

"Professor Zeross," began Alethea after a deep inhalation, "founded the Blue Bow Army soon after his granddaughter died in a fire on these very grounds. He wanted to control the Forces of Death, so that he could bring his granddaughter back to life. That was the whole point of all this, so that he could save lives by allowing doctors to be able to control Death itself." She shook her head. "But Fordyce, he was a Ghost Eater. He didn't like the thought of Zeross denying him his source of ghosts, of which there are many in this hospital."

"There are many ghosts in hospitals," explained Alethea quietly. "Cemeteries and hospitals are the places to go if you want to consume ghosts. That's where they hang around, you see. The ghosts of people that have died in hospitals and the ghosts of those that have had unfinished business." She swallowed. "This place is built on a disaster where many people died. There's a cemetery nearby and the Maudsley Institute is built on top of the ruins of a school where many children and Professor Zeross' very own granddaughter died."

Sam knew about that. She had heard about the fire. It had been a terrible tragedy, one that was even now affecting Danny. Was this Alex, that Danny wanted to rescue, a former pupil at the school that once stood where the Mental Institute now stood?  
"The mental patients," exclaimed Sam suddenly. "They've got ghosts inside them, haven't they?"

Alethea nodded.  
"That's right," she told Sam. "There's so many ghosts here, that some have even possessed the patients, giving them split personalities and making it look as if they've gone crazy. But they haven't and Professor Zeross realised that. He designed the Fate Determination Machine, to take control of the Kingdom of Death and to ensure that the ghosts that haunt this place are sent off to the After Life. But Dr. Fordyce didn't want that."

"Fordyce killed Professor Zeross," continued Alethea sadly. "He killed the Professor."

Sam now understood how the Leadership had changed. With Zeross dead, Danny had been free to take control of the Blue Bow Army. Yet, she still couldn't quite understand how the soldiers of the Blue Bow Army, whom must have been loyal to Zeross somehow, would have stomached the regime change.  
"I still don't understand," she said sternly. "Something doesn't add up… How did Fordyce get away with it?"

"Things were never like this in the Blue Bow Army before he came along," was Alethea's reply. "When Zeross died, O'Donnell quickly claimed that the Professor had died in an accident and then he put Daniel Fenton in charge. He claimed that Professor Zeross would have wanted the _Shou Ge Wang_ to lead the Blue Bow Army, because both Blue Bow and the _Mao Shang_ shared the same goals." She shook her head. "But this wasn't the real _Shou Ge Wang_. I know that. This Daniel Fenton was a clone O'Donnell created from a blood sample from the original."

"A clone?" exclaimed Sam in surprise, and with that, her heart began to sink. She thought that by awakening Danny would go back into his body and kick the impostor personality out, yet she had no idea that the body belonged to the impostor himself. "You mean, the Danny that was with you that night… wasn't the real thing?"

Alethea shook his head in reply.  
"No," she told Sam. "I have reason to believe that O'Donnell had been planning to seize control of the Blue Bow Army for quite some time now, because only a few hours ago, he had Fordyce disposed of as well. He's now the only one of the original three scientists that worked on the Fate Determination Machine. O'Donnell now has complete control over the Fate Determination Project."

"So why did you wake me up?" asked Sam curiously.

"The Danny Fenton that's in control of the Blue Bow Army is nothing more than a puppet," replied Alethea sternly. "He's nothing more than a puppet and O'Donnell's the one that's pulling the strings. Even so, what the clone did, is unforgivable. He, the clone, he ordered the massacre of the real Danny Fenton's family." She shook her head. "I can't work for an organisation that would do that, that would destroy families like that." She got up from her chair. "I hoped that by waking you up, you'd at least be able to stall for time."

The nurse walked over to the window of the room and leaned on the sill, looking out of it and towards the ivy-covered building that was Arcadia Tower, the heart of the Blue Bow Army and its Fate Determination and Life Ghost Projects.

"The clone has a crush on you," she continued. "If you can keep him distracted for long enough, maybe, just maybe, the _Mao Shang_ will have enough time to storm this place and put an end to O'Donnell's mad plans."

Sam couldn't believe what she had just heard. Was Alethea serious? If so, that meant she had contact with the _Mao Shang_, but even so…  
"You must be kidding," protested Sam. "This is a hospital! You can't just launch an invasion like that!"

"The _Mao Shang_ are few in numbers," was Alethea's reply. "Besides, they will be attacking Arcadia Tower. There are no patients there. They'll enter and destroy the Fate Determination Machine." She turned to face Sam. "Will you help us?" she asked Sam curiously. "Will you distract the clone long enough for the _Mao Shang_ to get through?"

Thoughts of Danny entered Sam's mind, as she sat there on the bed. She knew that Danny, the real Danny, had to return to the world of the living too. If for no one else, Sam had to stall for him.  
"What other choice do I have?" asked Sam.

"Here, get dressed," said Alethea, as she flung the black-haired girl some clothes. "I'll take you to the back entrance and we can take the service elevator up to the Observation Deck."

* * *

O'Donnell looked up at the display of the Fate Determination Machine, which now showed a clear picture of a typical developed world city bustling with people.  
"Look at them," he said to the Danny Clone. "The people of the Developed Nations, of the Rich Nations, are nothing more than pigs. They grow fat and complacent, whilst their poorer counterparts kill each other for food and water." He smiled. "There is too much waste in human society. The rich are swine and the poor are savages. Not a single one of them is worth the dirt they walk on."

He reached out and laid a hand on the Clone's shoulders.  
"Soon, though," he continued, "the Life Ghost… Sorry, I mean, Life Eater, shall rise. We shall purge this world of the unworthy and reset it!"

"W-W-Wipe the slate c-clean?" exclaimed the Clone.

"That's right," agreed O'Donnell with a mad glint in his eyes and a nod of his head. "We shall wipe it clean and start all over again. Humans and animals, the living and the dead, mortals and ghosts, all shall be wiped out of existence with the rise of the Life Eater!" The grin on his face widened into a mad smile. "What a wonderful future it will be," he exclaimed. "A future with no living creature is a future with no hatred, no pain and no suffering! The Great Dream of Peace shall finally be achieved!"

The image on the display suddenly altered to that of the Fenton Ghost RV, looking battered and worse for wear, pulling up to the entrance of Arcadia Tower.

"W-W-What is this?" exclaimed the Clone in surprise. "I thought I-I ordered their d-d-destruction." He rose from his seat. "H-How is it p-p-possible that they s-s-survived the a-attack?" he wondered out loud.

"It does not matter now," said O'Donnell with a shake of his head. "They are too late. The Life Eater is already complete. Amity Park is in ruins. The _Mao Shang_ have been defeated and wiped out. What can these fools do?" He turned to face the Clone. "Although, it wouldn't harm to set Security on them," he added. "I'm sure that the new and improved Michael Fordyce, that you suggested, will come in handy." O'Donnell reached out and then pressed a button on the arm of the Clone's chair.

* * *

The scene that greeted them was one of complete destruction. It looked as if a war had hit the inside of Arcadia Tower. Wires hung loosely and dangerously from the ceiling and rubble lay discarded on the floor. Pipes lay exposed and some were broken, pouring water or some unidentifiable liquid on to the floor, and all around was the remains of ectoplasm and wrecked circuitry, and the smell of ozone and even raw sewage.

"I don't like this," said Jack Fenton, as he stalked across the rubble.

"That makes two of us," whispered Tucker quietly, as he stepped over a discarded security guard's hat and then a discarded boot. He suddenly looked up, afraid that he would find a dead body amongst the rubble.

The group had passed through several disabled traps within the Tower, most of which had seemed quite deadly. There was the section of corridor, on which was once a conveyer belt that had led to a set of rather nasty looking spiked rollers designed to liquefy anything that got caught in them. It was clear that that section had had been designed for the sole purpose of capturing any invading soldiers, making it difficult for them to struggle forward, especially from the look of the gun nests on the other side.

Jazz knew that the defences also had a terrifying psychological aspect to it. From the ruins of the trap, she could tell that any invading soldiers would be under gun fire with no place to hide on a conveyer belt that made it difficult for them to move towards the other side of the corridor, where the gun nests were inconveniently located, and if they stopped in their tracks the conveyer belt would move them closer towards the rollers where they would be mashed to a pulp.

The girl wondered how many people had been killed in the attack on the Blue Bow Army's Headquarters. She didn't like to think about it.

"Look out!" cried Jack, before he dived towards his wife, pushing her out of the way of an energy blast that would have struck her in the chest.

Valerie quickly spun round and saw a few faceless ghosts floating behind her. She quickly opened fire on them with her new rifle, a present given to her by the Fenton Family. The energy blast from her rifle quickly caught the ghosts and peeled the outer ectoplasmic layer from them, stripping them off the ectoplasm that made them what they were, to leave the bare skeletal frame and wires that collapsed to the floor and broke into pieces.

"Thanks, honey," said Maddie with a faint smile on her face. "That was a close one."

"It'll take more than that to get the drop on me," announced Jack proudly, as he helped his wife back up to her feet.

"Those pictures are starting to creep me out," muttered Tucker, as he looked at the wall. He knew they were pictures of Danny, the New Blue Bow Leader, but the way the eyes on each picture seemed to stare out at him, as if each one was alive… The grim expression on Danny's lips, the cold stare, all of it served to get on Tucker's nerves, to increase the fear in his heart.

Maddie suddenly saw something. She saw the eyes on all the portraits glowing.  
"Duck!" she cried, before lasers flew from the eyes of each portrait.

The lasers flew straight from the eyeholes of each portrait, striking the eyeholes of the other picture opposite. They were carefully designed so as to hit any soldier in the head, killing them instantly. Yet the lasers didn't move one bit. They remained level, maintained by the machinery behind the opposite portraits. There was a clear psychological aspect to it, in the fact that surviving soldiers would be the ones already on the floor and there they would have the perfect view point of seeing their colleagues drop down dead. From then on, they were forced to crawl onwards, through the remains of those they had fought and of their colleagues.

"Let's get a move on before anything else happens," suggested Valerie, before she led the way, crawling along the floor.

They soon came upon a great octagonal-shaped room with bare metallic walls and a grand moat surrounding the wall filled with vicious looking spikes, each stained in something that looked suspiciously like blood. It wasn't exactly the most inviting of rooms, but they had to enter it. They had climbed through the Tower, knocking off any of the A-Ghosts that had attempted to attack them and this was the only route through the Tower left to them. They had to continue. It was their duty to continue.

"Ah, my back!" complained Jack, as he straightened upwards. He never thought that he would have to crawl for so long through the corridors of Arcadia Tower. He had always imagined it to be a glorious invasion, them storming the place and having a running battle against the ghost army of the Blue Bow.

Suddenly, there was a great whirring sound. The bridges that spanned the moat suddenly retracted, leaving them stranded on the isolated platform.

"A trap!" exclaimed Valerie, as she looked around her suspiciously.

There was a giggle and then a clichéd puff of smoke. When the smoke cleared, they could clearly see a table in front of them, draped in a yellow cloth and someone was standing behind it with three candles positioned on the left, right and in front of him. There were great huge yellow banners behind the man and the table, all marked with Chinese characters in bright red ink. The three candles were all red, the middle one longer than the others, and both had rectangular pieces of yellow paper plastered on them, each with a Chinese incantation written on them in red ink, the same incantation that was marked on the banners.

Tucker gulped nervously. He recognised the masked man behind the table.  
"Blind Gerald?" exclaimed Tucker in disbelief. Sure, the mask was slightly different, an eye had been painted on the mask over where the left eyehole should have been, but there were still no eyeholes carved into the mask, which was one solid mask with a Chinese character painted on it in red ink.

"This is not a place f-for the likes of y-y-you," stuttered Blind Gerald. "Y-You will regret c-c-coming here. With M-Master Phantom and… the L-L-Life Ghost, the New W-World is… is… is… r-ready to b-begin." Then with a flourish of his hands, he burnt two Chinese Talismans and hurled them into the air.

The flaming pieces of paper fluttered to the ground before they suddenly turned into great plumes of smoke that rose upwards and took form. The first one took on the form of a strange ghost with a head like an upside-down bucket with eyes and a mouth cut out of the metal. Fires raged within its head making the eyes and the mouth glow a bright red and the bottom half of its body was like that of a genie's, only made with smoke instead of anything supernatural and smoke billowed out of its right arm, which was like a flamethrower.

The second ghost that formed from the Talisman's had the bottom half of the previous ghost, but the top half of a white tiger with green stripes instead of black. It roared once, as did its fiery companion, before it rushed straight at Tucker and company.

* * *

Danny walked carefully across the rubble.

This was the same place as in his dreams. It was the burnt out ruins of Streete Court School, the Boarding School that Professor Zeross had once run. This was the place where Alex had died. This was the place where countless others had died in the smoke and the flames. This was the rubble that had existed for many years, before the Blue Bow Army came and built the Maudsley Institute on top of the ruins, fashioning the Institute such that it looked like an exact duplicate of the school as it had once been before the fire.

The white-haired youth, for he had transformed into his ghost form, picked his way across a fallen marble statue, charred black with soot. He knew it would have been easier for him to fly over, but if he did that, he had a feeling that he would miss something. Danny didn't want that. What he wanted was to do a thorough search of this ghostly plain, this purgatory that he was sure Alex haunted.

Some walls still had paintings hanging on them, now partially charred and destroyed. It didn't matter what they had been in the past. Now they were blackened with eyes still staring facelessly from them. Personal belongings were scattered through the rubble, most charred or damp, smelling of charcoal. Everything smelt of charcoal, of damp charcoal and a rotting, decaying aroma filled the air, accompanying the stillness of the ruins.

In front a wooden beam, black and looking fragile, lay across his path, forming some sort of triangular archway. It wasn't much of an obstacle, but rather than going through it, he ducked underneath it as if his powers of intangibility never existed.

"Ghost Eater."

The young Daniel Fenton looked around him worriedly with glowing green eyes. There was no one around to be seen, yet he could have sworn that he had heard someone. He wondered about the words he had just heard. Ghost Eater. Only now did he know what they meant, only now did he know what horror that the words conveyed. To actively consume ghosts and absorb them, to digest their personalities.

"Master Phantom…"

Danny whirled round. There was no one there.

"Life Ghost…"

That time the voice seemed to come from behind him. Danny whirled round again, only to be greeted by thin air. He spun round, looking around him, at the rubble around him, the imaginary rubble in this lonely purgatory. The half-ghost, _Shou Ge Wang_, Harvest King, he knew that someone was there with him. He knew that not only was someone out there, but that that someone was not friendly. Not only was it not friendly, but it was actively hiding from him, as if it knew that he could harm it.

"The New World…" whispered the voice.

"Show yourself!" shouted Danny, as he rotated around in one spot slowly, his eyes scanning his surroundings.

"It's ready," concluded the voice.

Then there was silence.

Danny held his breath. He listened. Young Daniel Fenton listened to the silence around him. His muscles were tense. He was prepared. He was ready to spring into action should the need arrive and he knew that the need would arrive. It was all matter of time, though. The creature, the entity that he was sure that was stalking him even now, would have to strike sooner or later. He would not let it give him the element of surprise. When it did strike, he would be ready for it.

A scream echoed around Danny before a section of the wall caved in.

Hands reached out and clawed at Danny, only to go through thin air.

Fordyce glared at Danny sightlessly. The right side of his face was completely covered in some bizarre white membrane, leaving only his left eye free, an eye that seemed clouded over as if a transparent white film had been laid on top of it. The man seemed to be bleeding all over and crimson dribbled from his mouth, as he glared at Danny with white eyes. He looked as if two people were holding on to him and the heads on either side of him lifted upwards to glare at Danny with the same white eyes that Fordyce had.

"I-I-I am Ceres," announced the left head.

"I am D-Dyer," announced the right head.

"I a-am F-F-Forsythe," announced the middle head and the middle head grinned with stained teeth, as did the other heads.

"W-We are Fordyce," said all three heads simultaneously, before each one grinned inanely. "The G-Greatest Thing e-e-ever will soon awaken… M-M-Master Phantom… f-forever!"

Danny regarded Fordyce with an expression that was part horror and part pity. He couldn't understand how Fordyce had gotten into this position, but he had somewhat of a clue. What he couldn't be sure of was which one was the original personality that the body once belonged to. Was it Ceres, Dyer or Forsythe? Which was the original man and which were the ghosts that he had consumed, the ghosts that had attributed to the personality that had kept him unconscious when he was first admitted to the hospital?

A frown appeared on Danny's face. Why hadn't Fordyce rushed at him? He looked more closely at the doctor and suddenly realised the reason, but when he did, it was far too late.

Hands suddenly burst out of the ground. A myriad of hands burst out of the hand and grabbed Danny by the legs. These were attached to bodies on which were faces that were as decayed as that of Fordyce's three heads. These were the other ghost personalities that Fordyce had consumed, the other ghost personalities that he had digested and absorbed into the whole and they were all connected to Fordyce, whom was rooted to the ground and to the myriads of personalities that even now clawed at Danny and attempted to pull him closer.

"No!" screamed Danny, as he struggled to break from the hundreds of hands that pulled him further down into the writhing mass of flesh underneath, closer towards the chomping jaws. "Let go of me!" he shouted. "Let go!" He concentrated plasma energy into his hands, as he attempted to fly away from the clawing hands, before firing them down at the souls that attempted to pull him into the mass that was Fordyce. He fired a plasma blast straight into the mass of arms and hands.

Danny rose higher above them. He looked down at the writhing mass and at the screaming faces.

Was that the right thing to do? After all, these were souls that Fordyce had consumed. They were not in control of their destinies. Fordyce was. Surely, as _Shou Ge Wang_, it was his duty to liberate them and set them free? It was his duty to open their way to the After Life. Fighting against them wasn't what he was supposed to do. He was supposed to help them. He was supposed to defend them.

"D-Die!" groaned Fordyce and the other entities that he was made out of said the same word. "D-Die!"

A great column of arms and heads suddenly rose up after Danny and a hand grabbed him. He looked down and saw the decaying hand that held on to him. Danny could see the other of Fordyce's personalities clambering over each other in an attempt to get to him first. He shook himself, flying in random patterns in an attempt to shake them off, but they held on so tightly, so tightly he couldn't break free from them.  
"Get off me!" he cried. "Fordyce!" he screamed, before firing a blast of energy straight at the main body made up of Forsythe, Dyer and Ceres.

A wall of ghost personalities, all consumed by the main personality, suddenly rose upwards and formed a shield against Danny's attack.

Danny swore under his breath. He had never liked Fordyce ever since he learnt of what the doctor had been doing to him in the hospital. This just made Fordyce seem even more cowardly and disgusting than before. To sacrifice a few external ghost personalities, personalities that should have been independent and free from Fordyce, was just despicable. He wanted to wipe that smug smirk off Fordyce's faces. He wanted to give Fordyce what was coming to him, but how could he, if all these ghost personalities were getting in the way.

"Carve… Carve out…"

"Stop it!" Danny shouted at the multiple ghosts that now seemed to be Fordyce's puppets, extensions of his conscience. "You don't have to be a part of him!" he cried.

"Name of our ruler."

The half-ghost closed his eyes, ignoring the emotionless chants of the many ghosts that made up Fordyce. He knew that he had to concentrate his energy and work on breaking free. If he didn't, he would end up being consumed by Fordyce. He would end up being a part of Fordyce and what then? Would Fordyce end up with his powers? Would Fordyce become the _Shou Ge Wang_ by association and if so, what would that mean?

"Phantom! Phantom! Phantom!" chanted the many personalities of Fordyce.

"Stop it!" screamed Danny, before he broke free with a great burst of ghostly energy that radiated from his body. He watched as the multiple arms and faces were sent falling back down to the floor.

Fordyce suddenly rose up on a wave of bodies, bodies that represented the spiritual manifestation of all the ghosts he had consumed. All three of his heads gazed at Danny, a smug smile on the lips of each of the three entities that made up Fordyce. The main body, Forsythe, raised his hand and a huge geyser of arms and faces rose up towards Danny.  
"Consume," groaned Fordyce in a voice that made it sound as if he had several holes in his throat. "Consume."

The column of arms and faces missed Danny, as he flew away from them and straight at Fordyce.

Arms reached out and Fordyce grabbed Danny, before opening all three mouths hideously and a raspy groan oozed out of his mouth. His grip tightened on Danny, as he leaned in to take a great bite out of him…

* * *

The tiger ghost writhed in agony before it disintegrated into a wisp of smoke that carried off into the air.

Blind Gerald burnt another Talisman and threw it to the ground silently. He watched sightlessly as the flames took shape and took on the form of the Water Ghost that Valerie had fought earlier that day.

"These guys just keep on coming," sighed Valerie.

"He can't keep conjuring ghosts up forever," said Jack in reply. "Keep fighting! He'll tire out soon."

* * *

Alethea pressed frantically on the elevator button. It was no use. She sighed angrily and then tried pressing a button underneath the one she had been so frantically pushing before. There was a sudden jolt and the elevator started rising. She sighed again.  
"I knew it," she exhaled exasperatedly. "They've sealed off the Upper Floors. The only way to the Fenton Clone is through the Red Zone."

"The Red Zone?" exclaimed Sam curiously.

"It's the most heavily defended part of this tower," was Alethea's reply, "and even then, you can only get into the Bottom Floor of the Central Instrument Room." She thought carefully. "Just being in the same room, though, I think that might do the trick," she said calmly. "But… I don't know whether we'll be able to stall for long enough."

Sam thought quietly about what she had to do. She had to distract the Danny Clone and keep him occupied long enough until help arrived to finally thwart the Blue Bow Army. It wasn't going to be easy and she didn't like the idea of being with this Clone. Just knowing that the Clone only looked like Danny and only had the most superficial of Danny's memories, just knowing that made Sam feel uneasy. Just knowing that the impostor had a crush on her made her feel sick. She felt that she was somehow betraying Danny by befriending the Clone, even if she didn't really mean any of it.

"Well, I have to do this, don't I?" retorted Sam calmly. "There's no other choice."

"We can't let the Clone or O'Donnell escape," stated Alethea sternly. "If we keep them distracted for long enough, they'll still be here when the _Mao Shang_ arrive."

Suddenly, the service elevator jerked to a halt.

The doors slid open.

"What?" exclaimed Alethea, before she edged towards the door. "This can't be! This… this is the Top Floor!" She couldn't understand it. She could have sworn she pressed a button that corresponded to the floor that was five floors below the Observation Deck.

"Hello there, ladies," greeted a familiar old voice, a heavily accented voice that could only belong to one person.

Sam frowned and then her jaw dropped in amazement.  
"Suimsalp?" she exclaimed in disbelief. "You're…? You're all right?"

There was a smile on the old man's face, as he stood there.  
"I've never felt better," he told Sam. "See? I'm not some old codger. I can take good care of myself." And he certainly looked quite healthy, despite having been blasted in the chest by the Danny Clone and falling into the water, apparently never to surface. "So, have you two come to put an end to the traitor's reign of terror?" he asked.

Sam shook her head. She knew what the old man was talking about and she felt that she had to set the record straight to him.  
"That's not the real Harvest King," she told Suimsalp. "He's an impostor."

"An impostor, you say?" exclaimed Suimsalp in surprise, as he turned to look down the corridor. "Impossible! I would have known. Still… If you say so…" He looked up and then down the corridor. "Well, it does not matter whether he's an impostor or not," he said with a shake of his head. "Either way, we've got to stop him in his tracks. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Yeah," replied Sam with a nod of her head.

A laugh soon echoed all around the corridor. It was a menacing laugh, tinged with a slight hint of madness. It was not the typical super villain laugh that one comes to expect from super villains. It wasn't even the stereotypical laugh of a madman. This laugh was one of genuine insanity with a flavour of pure rage behind it. This laugh was a bone-chilling laugh that made the blood run cold. They all turned round.

O'Donnell stood not too far down in the corridor, his arms crossed behind his back, a few blood stains splattered on his white lab coat and a horrific, insane smile splattered on his lips. In the harsh light of the corridor, the right lens of his glasses seemed opaquely white compared unlike the left lens, which was red and see through, allowing them to finally see that there was no eye there.  
"Alethea, why did you bring these people here?" he asked her curiously. "Don't you value the Ideals of Master Phantom?"

"Don't you give me that BS," protested Alethea angrily. "I know you're the one pulling his strings."

"Oh, is that so?" exclaimed O'Donnell in mock surprise. He sighed and shook his head. "So I assume that you will not be around to watch when I unleash the Life Eater?" He brought his right hand out from behind his back and clicked his fingers.

Something appeared beside O'Donnell, floating there and staring at them with its single eye. It was a single eye in a sphere of what seemed like black shadows. This was the very thing that had fled Spectra's body before it had disintegrated. It belonged to O'Donnell. It was his and it was the very thing that had been controlling Dr. Spectra and making her bend to O'Donnell's will. This thing, this Eye, it floated there before it shuddered and took the shape of Dr. Spectra, except that in the place of a face, there was just the one, single eye staring at them.

O'Donnell chuckled.  
"I'll leave you alone with my Familiar," he said calmly, as he turned his back on them. "Kill them," he said, as he began walking down the corridor. "Don't let them reach the Observation Deck. Kill them all."

* * *

The shot Valerie fired, shredded the Water Ghost like wind shreds wet tissue paper.

Blind Gerald screamed something intelligible, before he leapt away from the table. He landed in front of Valerie and hit her with the back of his wooden sword with such force that he nearly knocked her straight off her feet. Then in one swift movement, he swung the sharp edge of the wooden sword at the ghost hunter. He missed, as Valerie rolled out of the way. He cried angrily and spun round, the metallic fibrils from his best whirling round dangerously, their sharp edges flying through the air.

The way those metallic wires seemed to flail made it seem almost as if they were living extensions of Blind Gerald. Valerie couldn't understand how it was possible, as she dodged the sharp edges of Blind Gerald's wires. She back-flipped and dodged the wires, all whilst avoiding those short, sharp thrusts of Blind Gerald's wooden sword. Though it was made of wood, it looked potentially sharp and Valerie didn't want to end up on the wrong end of it.

Valerie couldn't understand it. This man had no eyeholes in his mask. He couldn't see her, yet he still managed to fight with the accuracy of a man that could see. His arms were a flurry and his sharp wooden sword missed her not by inches, but by mere millimetres, so precise was his thrusts and swings. She was doing her very best to keep up, to be able to dodge his attacks, but it didn't seem to be enough.

Without warning, Jack suddenly rushed Blind Gerald and crashed into him, knocking him over with the strength of a quarterback.

Yet it would seem that Blind Gerald was part cat, as he landed back on his feet, despite being flipped off them. He slipped into a defensive stance and waited. It was not clear what he was waiting for, as he stood there. He just waited there, as if waiting for them to attack. Blind Gerald stood there, like a coiled spring, ready to leap into action, the wires from his belt, like spider legs, touching the ground as if to provide him with support.

"This guy is nuts," exclaimed Jack. "He can't take us all on by himself."

"I-I do n-not need to," was Blind Gerald's reply.

"M-Master Phantom… Life E-Eater… N-N-New World… will s-start," came a muffled chanting that seemed to come from outside.

Ghosts started to rise up from the floor, each of them with rectangular pieces of yellow paper inscribed with Chinese characters draped over their left eyes. There was Johnny 13, Nicolai Technus, the Lunch Lady, Skulker, the Box Ghost, Desiree, Ember, Walker and even Spectra was amongst them. All of them had a dead look in their left eyes and looked as limp as wet paper dolls, as they rose up out of the ground. And all of them were stuttering and all of them were chanting the same thing, as if they were in some sort of trance, as if they being controlled by someone else.

"So many ghosts," murmured Maddie.

Jazz didn't say a thing. She didn't even move. She had noticed something. It seemed strange to her how the candles on the table seemed to flare so brightly with every ghost that was conjured up. She wondered. Would Blind Gerald's hold over the ghosts disappear if she somehow snuffed them out? She had to try, but what she needed was some kind of distraction. What she needed was…  
"Tucker," she called out to Danny's best friend. "I need you to cause a distraction," she told him.

"Me?" exclaimed Tucker. "Why me?"

"Hey, judging from how Danny never gets any work done when you're around, I think you're the most distracting person here," was Jazz's reply. She then turned to watch the incoming ghosts that were even now joining Blind Gerald in the fight against her parents and Valerie. "Look, just distract them any way you can," she said. "The more distracted they are, the better I can snuff out those candles of his. I bet they're what's helping him control all those ghosts."

Tucker thought of all the things he could do. There were none that he liked. All involved putting himself in danger. Yet, there was something else that he could do… He just wasn't sure whether it was the right thing to do.  
"Okay," he said, "but you'd better cover your ears." He then started singing.

The plan was simple. Tucker had heard that blind people's other senses usually get sharper in an attempt to make up for their lack of sight. If that was so, then Blind Gerald's hearing would make him vulnerable to any off-key singing on Tucker's behalf. And let's face it, all of Tucker's singing was off key.

Still, Tucker never thought that the chamber they were in would have such great acoustics. His singing echoed all around them and even the ghosts were covering their ears and writhing on the floor in agony. He noticed that even Blind Gerald was writhing on the floor in agony, clutching at his ears but to no avail. Tucker wondered whether his singing would end up echoing within Blind Gerald's mask, especially how Blind Gerald's voice itself seemed to echo within that mask.

Seeing her chance, Valerie quickly rushed Blind Gerald.

Seeing her chance, Jazz rushed at the table.

With one blow, Valerie smashed Blind Gerald's mask.

With one blow, Jazz smashed the candles.

The ghosts dissipated and Blind Gerald fell unconscious.

* * *

Fordyce roared in pain, as his main body reared backwards.

Before Danny could fire another blast, hands suddenly grabbed his arms. He tried to struggle against them, but found himself unable to. Becoming intangible, becoming solid, nothing worked. The different ghost personalities, all part of Fordyce, were ensnaring Danny. Hands grabbed his limbs, his neck, his torso, his face, covering his mouth and his nose and the fingers were clawing at him. They grabbed him tightly, the fingers digging into his flesh but thankfully not puncturing it. Faces rose upwards and mouths chomped on thin air, closing in on him.

Slowly, Danny's thoughts began to disappear into a black haze and his vision started to blur.

* * *

Sam threw the glutinous rice grains into the Familiar's Eye.

It screamed in agony, writhing as it burnt. Blinded by the rice against its eyeball, the creature didn't see Suimsalp rush up towards it with a wooden sword. The thing didn't see Suimsalp plunge the sword deep into its body and by then it was too late. The creature writhed and then it dissipated into thin air.

"That was much easier than I thought it would be," said Sam calmly.

"Yes, it was," agreed Suimsalp a slow nod of his head. "Almost too easy."

That comment made Sam look around her cautiously. She herself had a sneaking suspicion that the Familiar had been far too easy to defeat. Did O'Donnell really expect that wimp of a ghost to defeat them, or was it keeping them occupied whilst he schemed to get rid of them by some other means? Sam didn't like it one bit. She didn't like the situation at all.

"Let's get going," she said sternly.

* * *

"H-Here they come," sighed the Danny Clone. "They swarm towards m-me like r-r-rats." His right hand clenched into a fist tightly. "D-Dr. O'Donnell, what should I d-do?"

A smile spread across O'Donnell's face.  
"You are the prototype Life Ghost," he told the Danny Clone. "You have its powers. You can defeat them easily."

The Danny Clone sighed, as he pressed a button and the entire chair he sat in swivelled round to face the entrance to the Observation Deck. He knew O'Donnell was right. The Danny Clone knew that he was far superior to the miserable vermin that were going to appear soon. What could they do against him? He was Danny Phantom, the most powerful of all living beings. He was _Shou Ge Wang_. He was the prototype Life Ghost. There was nothing he couldn't do.

The doors suddenly slammed open.

"S-S-S-Sam?" exclaimed the Clone in surprise. He had not expected her to be up on the Observation Deck. In fact, he had not even expected her to be conscious. "S-Sam," he sighed in a loving tone of voice. He then frowned, a frown that dissipated into a strange pained expression, before becoming a frown again. "I d-don't understand," he then said in a confused tone of voice. "How is it p-possible? Who w-woke you up?" The Clone shook his head sadly. "S-Sam, you shouldn't be here."

Sam walked ahead of Alethea and Suimsalp, not caring for her own safety.  
"What makes you say that?" she asked the Clone, knowing that she had to put him off guard. "Well, Danny?"

"I'm so sorry," apologised the Clone. "I'm so sorry, S-S-Sam, for what I did to you."

A frown appeared on Sam's face. Was it just her or was the Clone's stuttering getting less frequent? She shook her head and tried to clear that thought out of her mind. It was one she didn't want. It was one she didn't need. What she needed was to concentrate on keeping the Danny Clone occupied.  
"Why did you do it?" she asked him. "Why did you do it, Danny? How could you do something like to the person you love?"

"You know h-h-how I f-f-feel?" asked the Clone in surprise.

"I've known for a long time, Danny," said Sam calmly, as she tried her best to look love struck. "And… I feel the same way too."

"You d-d-do?" exclaimed the Clone.

"Yeah," replied Sam mock-bashfully.

O'Donnell suddenly stepped forward.  
"Silence, girl!" he shouted at her. "You will not speak to Master Phantom like that!" He then turned to face the Danny Clone. "I'm so sorry, Master Phantom. I had no idea that the Manson girl would be so impudent to you." He then turned back to face Sam momentarily, before turning back round to face the Danny Clone. "Do not listen to her," he told the Clone calmly. "She is only trying to deceive you. She would blind you to the truth and make you stray away from your ideals."

"Danny, don't listen to him!" shouted Sam loudly. "I love you!" she lied to him.

The expression that spread across the Clone's face was a mixture of shock and of great relief. The Clone had never expected Sam to return his love, after he thought back to all his previous encounters with her. He never expected the love to be real, the love that they had denied so many times. The Clone had always thought those times were real, that Sam's denials were real.

A smile spread across the Clone's lips.  
"And I l-l-love you too, S-Sam," he stuttered.

A plasma blast suddenly flew through the air and struck the Clone in the face, knocking the Clone's head backwards.

Valerie lowered the rifle.  
"That'll teach you to mess with me," she told the clone.

"Sam!" cried Tucker with great relief.

"Tuck?"

"Oh, that was a b-bad mistake," growled the Danny Clone angrily, as he leaned forward to show that Valerie's blast had done nothing to harm him. "D-Do you know w-what you are d-d-doing… doing?" He rose up from his chair and floated away from it and down towards them, until his feet were only half a metre away from the metallic floor. "H-How dare you help the c-cause of the F-Forces of Evil?" he asked them angrily. "Humanity is a p-p-plague. G-Ghosts are a p-p-plague. They m-must all be exterminated."

O'Donnell laughed.  
"That is right, sir," he said, saying the last word with bitter sarcasm. "Now what will you do?"

"I w-will teach these v-v-vermin a lesson," was the Clone's reply, before he tore his cloak off. He then fired a green plasma bolt at Danny's parents.

* * *

Danny fired a green plasma bolt at Fordyce.

There was a scream and suddenly Danny felt the grip of the arms loosen. He tore free from the limbs of the different personalities and flew away from them.  
"You're going down, Fordyce!" he shouted at the three-headed monstrosity that spiritually represented the corrupt doctor. "I won't let you keep these ghosts from passing on to the other side!" He then flew straight down towards Fordyce.

Arms burst out of the ground and reached out for him. He dodged them all, weaving in and out of the rising bodies.

Ectoplasmic energy charged up and built up within his right hand, as he flew straight at Fordyce. He could have fired it straight at Fordyce, but he knew that would have been pointless. After all, Fordyce could just put up some other ghost personalities to shield himself with. No, Danny knew he had to be close up in order to blasts Fordyce and to do that, he would have to dodge all these different personalities, all of whom were trying to devour him and make him a part of Fordyce.

* * *

Valerie blocked the Clone's attack, before she opened fire on him. She sent plasma bolts flying at him, but he became intangible and they all flew through him. Seeing this, Valerie knew that she had to do something to see him. She quickly brought out a pair of what looked like night-vision goggles and put them on, and instantly, the Clone became visible to her again and in that instant, she saw the Clone's fist hurtle straight towards her head.

It was too fast. Valerie couldn't get out of the way in time.

"Danny! Stop it!" cried Tucker and Jazz almost simultaneously.

"Danny?" exclaimed Jack and Maddie simultaneously.

"That's not Danny," protested Sam quickly, before they could let spill any of her best friend's secrets. "It's a clone of him that's been given ghost powers."

O'Donnell laughed.  
"Ah, but not just any ghost's powers," he said in an attempt to correct Sam. "He has been infused with the Power of the Life Eater, a human-ghost hybrid that I've been working on for all these years. It is the Power of a God!"

"Yeah, well he ain't so tough!" cried Valerie in reply, before firing another blast at the Danny Clone.

This time, she had fired something that would hit the Danny Clone regardless of whether he was intangible or not. So it collided with him and he became tangible once more and was flung backwards by the force of the blast, but not before countering with a blast of energy of his own.

Valerie dodged it and dived out of the way. She then opened fire, only for her shot to rebound against an ectoplasmic shield. Valerie swore under her breath, before she rushed straight at the Danny Clone. She dodged a few of his shots before she flung a punch at the Danny Clone's face and missed as he became intangible. Her fist went straight through thin-air as the Clone tried to go straight through her, only to rebound and fall backwards.  
"Ha, you're not going to try and take over my body," she told him.

"G-Go and d-d-die," retorted the Danny Clone before he blasted Valerie in the chest with a full force plasma bolt.

* * *

More arms burst out of the ground and more of the personalities that Fordyce devoured attempted to grab him.

Yet Danny flew round them easily. He then rushed Fordyce and was about to hit the ghost, when one of Fordyce's hands reached out and grabbed Danny. Two wrapped around his throat and the other two grabbed his arms, holding them back and away from him. He tried to struggle, but Fordyce was far too strong and was easily overpowering him.

"Y-You shouldn't h-h-have c-come here," said Fordyce. "Y-Your precious A-Alex isn't here. Alex… Alex is… is in the human w-world with O'Donnell." He smiled inanely. "Now w-we eat you."

"You like eating ghosts?" Danny managed to ask through his constricted throat. "Eat this!" he cried, before he finally tore his arm out of Fordyce's grasp and punched his central head, before letting rip with a blast of ectoplasmic energy that blew Fordyce apart, sending ectoplasm flying through the air.

Fordyce staggered backwards, a gaping hole in his body, dripping green ectoplasm. All three heads wheezed terribly, as the entities of Forsythe, Dyer and Ceres began to disintegrate.  
"What?" exclaimed all three heads in unison. "What are we doing here? What are we? How…?" Then all three mouths opened in a silent scream before Fordyce disintegrated into nothing.

Breathing heavily, Danny sighed as he floated down to the floor. He could see the ghosts rising upwards before his very eyes like steam. They seemed so blurred though and he seemed so tired. A part of him wanted to be with them, wanted to go with them to their destiny. A part of him knew that he had to return to the human world, but a part of him, the tired part of him, the part of him that seemed so strong thanks to his fatigue, desired to go with the other ghosts. He wanted to just leave his cares behind and go with them to the other side.

And Danny collapsed on the floor.

* * *


	13. Chapter 13: Judgement of Truth

Author's Note: I wonder if the events in this next chapter will surprise any of you. I'm sure you saw it coming a mile off, like Danny will do. Still, I hope you enjoy this second-to-last chapter.

* * *

**_Chapter Thirteen: Judgement of Truth_**

"G-Go and d-d-die!" roared the Danny Clone, before he fired a plasma bolt straight at Valerie.

The ghost hunter dived out of the way, narrowly avoiding the Clone's attack. Valerie then reached for a small anti-ghost grenades before hurling them at the clone of the ghost that had ruined her life, the Clone that now threatened to ruin the lives of so many other people other than her. She watched as they bounced off a force field the ghost created and then clattered harmlessly away from the Clone before exploding, sending glutinous rice grains flying.

Dr. Spectra's words came back into Valerie's mind, as she aimed her rifle at the ghost.

Spectra was wrong. Valerie knew she was wrong. She did have a purpose in life and that was to prevent this clone of a ghost from taking over the world. Right there, right then, her purpose was to save the world from the Blue Bow Army and its deranged Cloned Leader. She had to fight to stop the ghosts from taking over, to put an end to the Clone's plans, whatever they might have been.

The Clone rushed straight at Valerie and leapt into the air, before performing a quick roundhouse kick that would have connected with her head if she hadn't back-flipped out of the way. He floated towards her, kicking out at her as he hovered at shoulder level. It was as if he was walking on air and with every step, he kicked out at Valerie, whom blocked each blow with her arms.  
"M-Miserable human," stuttered the Clone, as his hands began to glow with an eerie green energy. He then kicked at Valerie with all her might, sending her flying backwards, before he fired another blast of energy straight at her.

The energy never hit Valerie.

Jack Fenton had used one of his inventions to suck it up like dirt.  
"Ghost boy, meet the Fenton Weasel," he told the Danny Clone, before he flipped a switch on the vacuum-cleaner-like machine. He then aimed the nozzle of the machine at the Clone, sending the energy blast back straight at the Clone.

The Clone became intangible and the energy bolt flew straight through him.  
"M-Missed me," said the Clone in an unimpressed voice, with his arms crossed in front of his chest. "Is that the b-best you can d-do, D-Dad?"

"Shut up!" shouted Jazz, before she pulled the trigger on her anti-ghost gun and blasted the Danny Clone in the chest, sending the Clone reeling backwards. "Clone or no clone, you're certainly no family member of ours!" she shouted at the Danny Clone, before firing at O'Donnell's creation once again.

The energy bolt was batted away with one sweep of the Danny Clone's hand.  
"J-Jazz, I'm h-hurt," said the Danny Clone sarcastically, before he shook his head. "Don't you know w-what goes around c-comes around?" he asked and then he fired two beams of energy, one at Jack Fenton and the other at Maddie in an attempt to blast both of Jazz's parents out of existance.

Neither let themselves be hit, as both Fenton parents leapt out of the way. They retaliated with some shots of their own, Jack Fenton with his Fenton Weasel set in reverse and Maddie Fenton with her Ghost Peeler. Both managed to score a hit, each of them hitting him with an explosion that made a fireball blossom brightly like a flower.

Valerie saw her chance. She saw that the Danny Clone was stunned by both attacks. If she hit him with a shot of her own, maybe, just maybe she would push the battle in their favour. She raised her own rifle at the Danny Clone, before opening fire. Valerie couldn't see whether her shot had hit either, but she heard it strike something and there was an explosion.

Seconds later, the Danny Clone appeared right in front of Valerie and threw a punch straight at her. His fist never hit Valerie, but instead hit a pair of metallic gloves.  
"Huh? W-What is this?" exclaimed the Clone in surprise. "L-Let go, woman!"

"If you insist," was Maddie's reply, before using her Ghost Grabbers, she threw the Danny Clone away from Valerie.

Jack Fenton then swept up Valerie's rifle from the ground and took aim. He then pulled the trigger and blasted the Danny Clone in the chest, sending him crashing into the ground.

"Are you all right?" asked Maddie, as she knelt down beside Valerie.

There was a groan in reply from Valerie, as she lifted herself off the floor slightly and then held a hand against her head, for she had hit it pretty hard when she landed on the metallic floor.  
"I'll be fine," she told Maddie, "but I'll be much better when this creep goes down." She then turned over slightly and staggered back on to her feet, before turning to face the Danny Clone, whom had staggered back on to his feet too.

The Danny Clone glared up at them.  
"Y-You," he said angrily. He looked down at himself and then noticed that he was standing on the ground. The Clone cried out, before leaping into the air and off the metallic floor. "I'm n-n-not supposed to t-touch the g-g-ground," he told them, as he floated off the floor, clutching at his left arm with a look of intense agony on his face. "You dared… you made me t-touch…" He winced and simultaneously, his head jerked sideways.

"Yeah? Well so what?" was Valerie's reply. She was about to insult him, but that was when she realised that something was indeed very wrong. She was going to tell him how he was getting sloppy, how he wasn't giving her the same fight he did the last time they had truly fought… And that was what made her realise the truth.

Sure, he had been just as tough right there as he had done at the Swimming Pool. However, he certainly hadn't been as tough the first time they fought. In fact, though his punches packed far more power than they used to, their first battle had lasted a much longer time than this. It was almost as if, as if this ghost boy was weaker.

"I don't remember you being so weak," stated Valerie sternly, as she thought about the Danny Clone. "You must be a copy. The original would have given me more of a fight."

"S-Silence!" snapped the Danny Clone angrily. "Y-You… All of y-you! Everyone t-treats me like a f-fool! I won't stand f-for it! I'll show you m-m-my true p-p-power! I'll show you a-all!"

A ring of light enveloped him and rose upwards from his feet. It expanded as it reached his waist until it was about twice the diameter it had once been, and as it rose, the parts of the Clone's body it passed over changed. The Clone's body gradually changed until the ring reached above his head and then shrank to form a silver halo around his white hair.

The hair had become as white as snow and had grown to long proportions, a lot of which dangled over his face to cover his right eye completely. He had grown two extra arms, which were more like huge terrifying claws from some kind of hideous monster. Everything below his waist had become a writhing mass of slimy tentacles that swayed of their own accord. And two great, huge, feathery, white angelic wings had sprouted from his back, making him look like a cross between some hideous monster and an angel.

"N-Now you shall f-face my wrath," announced the Clone, as he clasped his two normal hands together such that the thumb, first and second fingers were pressed together and all pointing upwards. He raised his clasped hands until the pointed fingers were level with his lips.

A sphere of ectoplasmic energy began to form in front of him. Energy flew from his body and clumped together, increasing the size of the energy sphere. It became a huge sphere, a monstrous sphere that was easily the size of Jack Fenton himself. The thing was a hulking great concentration of pure energy that was far more concentrated than it looked.

The Clone smiled, before he unclasped his normal hands and spread his normal arms apart.

The energy sphere burst in response, sending a shower of energy beams flying down towards Valerie and the Fenton Family.

By rights, the energy shower should have killed them. The lasers should have seared through their bodies and at least wounded them badly if not killed them outright. The energy beams would have done all that, were it not for the fact that an energy shield now surrounded Valerie and Danny's parents.

Danny smiled, as he looked up at the Clone.  
"I hear there's a clone of me about," he said calmly.

"What? The real Danny Phantom?" exclaimed O'Donnell in disbelief. "Impossible! How did you get back? Lady _Meng Po's_ tea should have made it impossible for you to return and impossible for you to remember who you once were."

"Let's just say that I've got good friends," said Danny with a smile, as he turned back to look at Sam. He then turned to face O'Donnell and his Clone. "O'Donnell, you've really done it this time. No way am I that ugly!"

The Clone smiled in response to Danny's comment.  
"Ah, m-my original f-form," he said as calmly as Danny had done. "It's g-g-good of you to have c-come. Dr. O'Donnell assures m-me that I'm p-perfect, that I'm b-better than you in every w-w-way."

"Does he really?" asked Danny nonchalantly.

"Shall w-w-we see if this is true?" suggested the Clone. "Shall w-we see who really is the b-best?"

The real Danny Phantom nodded his head, before he flew straight at the Clone, whose tentacles suddenly lashed out at him. Danny became intangible and flew straight through them. He then charged up his hands before firing a plasma blast straight at his clone that struck the Clone straight in the chest.

A tentacle lashed out at Danny. Several more followed suit. They ensnared him. They wrapped around him. Several wrapped around his wrists. Others wrapped around his legs and torso. One lashed around his neck cruelly, nearly choking him. All of them pulled him in towards the Clone, the monstrous Life Ghost Prototype. Electricity surged through the tentacles suddenly and then through Danny's body, making him cry out in pain.

"W-Weakling," called out the Clone. "You are n-nothing." It pulled harder on Danny, reeling him towards him and then lashed out with its two clawed hands, ripping through Danny's suit and cutting his skin.

"Let go, you freak!" cried Danny, before he concentrated energy into both of his hands and used them to blast the tentacles that held his hands apart. He then quickly fired another blast of energy straight into the Clone's face, making it scream in agony and loosen its grip on him. "The original is always best," he said, before he rushed in and punched the Clone with an uppercut.

Jazz watched as her brother fought against his clone. She couldn't believe what was going on. She couldn't even believe that her brother had been cloned in the first place and what a horrible creature this clone had turned out to be.  
"Go, Danny!" she cheered. "Beat that impostor!"

A laser beam flew out from the Clone's eye and nearly hit Danny had he not ducked out of the way.

Danny returned fire with a plasma blast that struck the Clone in the chest. He flew over the tentacles that lashed out at him and then kicked out at the impostor with enough force to knock the Clone's head backwards. Before the Clone could even retaliate, he rushed in to punch and kick the Clone with all he had got. He didn't relent. Danny kept hitting the Clone, knowing that if he gave it a chance, it would annihilate him.

He suddenly cried out as one of the Clone's clawed hands raked across his leg, leaving a horrible gash there. Danny floated backwards quickly, just in time to avoid another swipe at him. Before the Clone could attack him again, Danny quickly fired a ray of energy at the impostor, only for the Clone to create a reflective shield that sent it flying back towards him. He dived out of the way and then saw a clawed hand hurtle towards him out of the corner of his eye, the razor sharp claws cutting through the air towards him viciously.

They went through thin air as Danny became intangible. He flew upwards until he was above the angelic Clone and then fired a ray of energy down at his double. The Clone became intangible, just as Danny thought it would. He dived down towards the impostor just as the Clone had gone intangible and when it became solid again, Danny lashed out with a fist.

A tentacle whipped out and grabbed Danny, ensnaring his wrist and pulling it away from the Clone's face. More tentacles lashed up towards Danny.

Concentrating energy into his right hand he grabbed the tentacle ensnared around his wrist, burning it and making the Clone cry out in pain. The tentacle loosened and he pulled free and flew away from the rising tentacles, just out of their reach. He didn't see the laser that shot out from the Clone's left eye, however, until it was too late, until it struck him in the head and knocked him backwards.

"Hold on!" cried Sam, as she grabbed a Fenton Thermos and tore it out of Tucker's grip. She rushed towards the Clone, hoping that she would somehow capture it in the Ghost Thermos.

O'Donnell rushed over and grabbed Sam by the shoulder and pulled her back. He flung her away from the Clone and threw her on to the metallic floor.  
"Do you have a death wish, Ms. Manson?" asked O'Donnell curiously, as he approached her. "I ask you, do you wish to die? Is that why you are so eager to defy me?" He closed in on her.

"Get away from her!" cried Tucker, as he rushed straight at O'Donnell. He slung his backpack off his shoulders and then flung it, with all its heavy technology inside, straight at O'Donnell knocking him backwards. "You okay, Sam?" asked Tucker.

"Yeah, I'm fine," replied Sam, as she got back up onto her feet.

The Clone fired a thin beam of concentrated energy from the tips of its fingers, aiming it at Danny. It missed. The Clone fired another beam at Danny from the index finger of its other hand. It missed again. The Clone cried wordlessly in anger, before clasping its hand together again. A sphere of energy appeared above the tips of its fingers, which then turned into a beam of energy that struck Danny in the shoulder. It then spun round, its tentacles splaying outwards through centripetal force.

Before Danny knew what was going on, the tentacles whipped him one after another. After the first twenty lashes or so, each of which occurred in the first two seconds, Danny became intangible and let the tentacles go through him. The Clone followed suit, becoming intangible too and his tentacles ended up slapping Danny physically, despite them both being both intangible. They hit him with such force that they left nasty welts on his cheeks and across his body, as if he had been whipped with a cat-o-nine-tails.

He saw the Clone stop in mid-spin to face him and then was blasted in the chest by a plasma bolt that he was not prepared to dodge. Danny fell backwards and as he did so, he could hear voices calling out to him. Sam, Tucker, Jazz, his family and his friends… Were they cheering him on? Of course, they were. It wasn't as if they hated him or anything.

"Only I can defeat the Blue Bow Army," murmured Danny in sudden realisation, as he fell towards the ground. He then stopped himself from falling, consciously stopping himself. "You're not going to get the better of me!"

The Clone laughed.

O'Donnell laughed.

"I am p-perfect," announced the Clone, as it clasped its normal hands together. "There is no need for you t-to be here. You are the old m-model. I am the new. Who needs old j-junk like you to protect this world?" The Clone then unclasped it hands and spread them slowly, focusing energy in between the two palms. "The B-Blue Bow Army will r-rule over all. We shall p-protect this world," said the Clone, as it spread its hands to allow more energy to be focused between the hands.

Danny floated back upwards until he was level with the Clone. He had an idea, but he wasn't sure if the Clone would fall for it.  
"Says you," he retorted in reply to the Clone's comment, to keep it distracted. He then clapped his hands together and spread them slowly, focusing energy between the palms of his hands, imitating the Clone flawlessly. "You're not perfect. You can't even touch the floor. Why is that? Didn't O'Donnell tell you?"

"He can't touch the floor because he's an imperfect clone," said Suimsalp calmly, after figuring it out for himself. "He is not of this world and cannot stand the touch of this earth. It negates the magic that holds him together."

"Nonsense!" protested the Clone angrily, as its sphere of energy grew to twice the size of Danny's. "I am p-perfect in every w-way. Allow m-me to show you what I'm truly c-capable of." It then closed its eye, pressing its forefinger and thumbs together and raised its arms as if in meditation. It breathed heavily before all its tentacles snapped straight and stiff as they were icicles and its eye snapped open.

Two halos split off from the silver halo around the Clone's head and rose high into the air before falling down and striking the floor in front of Danny. In doing so, each halo created an identical copy of Danny, both of which were nearly identical in every way save for the fact that they both had wings like an angel and both were armed with fiery swords that seemed not as if their blades were on fire but as if their blades were made from fire.

One of the angelic clones rushed straight at Danny, swinging its fiery blade at him. The flames went through thin air as Danny became intangible. The angelic clone slashed violently at him, repeatedly, never relenting in its speed, the blade of flames becoming a terrifying fiery blur and sending off arcs of fire that flew through the air. The second angelic clone raised its fiery blade into the air, only for it to split into several fireballs that hurtled straight at Danny and his friends and family.

None of them hit as the humans scattered. All the fireballs struck the ground to then burn like napalm, blazing away furiously on the ground on which it struck. Suddenly, the flames began to take shape. Some took on the shape of Skulker, others took on the shape of Dr. Spectra and others still took on the shapes of other ghosts that Danny had fought before, but all had one similarity, all seemed to be made out of pure fire, a fire that burned brightly and dyed the room bloody red in its ghastly light.

"See?" exclaimed the Danny Clone with a smug smile on its lips, as it glared down at them with its one eye. "The original c-could never do that. Think of it! An army, of my own creation, at m-my own d-disposal. I w-will never be in need of b-backup again, whereas you…" A sneer spread across the Clone's face. "You n-need to rely on others. Y-You need to rely on f-f-family and f-f-friends. I d-do not. I am s-stronger than you. You are w-weak. F-Fake! You are the one that's the i-impostor." It then lowered down until his writhing tentacles nearly dragged along the metallic floor.

Two fiery Skulker entities rushed at Danny, only to be extinguished by the force of Danny's plasma blasts that acted like breath on a birthday candle. Two more rushed at him and at the last moment rushed away, as the Danny Clone dashed over and ensnared Danny in its tentacles.

"L-Look!" cried the Clone, as it gestured towards his friends and family. "S-See how useless they are t-to you. They c-cannot fend for themselves against m-my army. There is n-no need f-for you, _Shou G-Ge Wang_, in this w-world. See, this is F-Fate. The G-Gods of Death have d-decreed this."

Jack's inventions were useless against the fiery ghosts, for they were made of pure fire controlled by the magic of the Danny Clone. There was no ghostly energy in them, thus his inventions couldn't harm them. They were useless, absolutely useless. All Jack Fenton could do, all Maddie Fenton could do, all Jazz could do, all Sam and Tucker could do, all Valerie could do, all they could do was dodge the swipes of the fiery copies of ghosts and hope that they would not be hurt. All they could do was survive.

The tentacles that ensnared Danny suddenly began poking away at his skin, as if trying to find some orifice through which they could enter him. They became intangible near their tips and started to probe inwards, bypassing Danny's skin and inserting themselves into him.  
"You're old, _Shou Ge W-Wang_," said the Clone, as its tentacles started to snake their way through Danny's flesh and around his vital organs. "Y-You are the old m-model. You're a hunk of j-junk. Stand aside and m-make way for the n-new _Sh-Shou Ge Wang_."

"N-Never!" cried Danny in pain, as one by one the tentacles became physical inside of him. "I'll n-never give up!"

"Y-You are weak," protested the Clone sternly, as more of its tentacles became physical inside of Danny and started to push back the flesh around them and squeeze the organs they wrapped around. "You r-rely too m-much on friends and f-family. That's w-what makes you w-weak."

Suddenly there was a whooshing sound and the Clone looked up to see foam lying on the floor. Now only the two angelic clones of himself remained.

"W-What is this?" exclaimed the Clone in disbelief.

"This is you going down," retorted Valerie, as she stood side by side with Sam and Tucker, each with a Fenton Ghost Peeler in their hands.

Sam and Tucker aimed at the two clones that the Clone had made. Valerie aimed at the main Clone itself. They pulled the trigger and hit all three with a ray of energy designed to peel off their outer layers. The two minor clones screamed as they were stripped to pieces by the rays and dissipated into the air, their cries lingering in the air for a few seconds after their demise.

The Clone cried out, its grip loosening on Danny. It gave him enough respite to concentrate. He became intangible and slipped free from the tentacles that would have crushed him to death from within.

"You're wrong," Danny told the Clone, as he floated up until he was level with his doppelganger. "My friends, my family… They're the ones that help give me strength. They're what make me strong, stronger than you." He then cupped two of his hands together and focused ectoplasmic energy between the two of them, creating a mass of energy that he fired at the Clone, striking it in the head.

It cried out and reeled backwards, clutching at his head with one of its normal hands.  
"N-No! Impossible!" cried the Clone, as it glared at Danny angrily. "You… y-you are over the h-hill. Old and w-weak. There is n-no need for fourteen-year old j-junk in this w-world. If that is the b-best you can d-do, then this w-world will have n-no hope, if you are to r-remain _Shou Ge Wang_." It shook its head with a smile, as it clapped its hands together and closed its eye, creating a powerful sphere of energy that built up in front of it and expanded to horrific proportions.

"N-Now that I'm h-here, there is n-no need for you to r-remain," announced the Clone. "You c-can retire now and l-let me be the one to retire y-you!" The Clone crossed its arms, its hands slicing through the sphere of energy and popping it.

Danny saw the energy of sphere fragment into several smaller globules of ectoplasmic energy that turned into pinpoint-sharp lasers that flew straight at him. He quickly spread his arms out and turned the sphere of energy he had been creating into a perfectly flat wall of energy just as planned. Mentally, Danny crossed his fingers as he watched the wall reflect the lasers back at the Clone.

A barrage of lasers flew back through the air and struck the Clone. It shrieked in agony, as the lasers tore at its imperfect body and clipped its wings. The Clone flailed and fell from the air to crash on the metallic floor.  
"I d-d-don't understand!" it stuttered, as it writhed on the floor in agony. "I was supposed to b-be, p-p-perfect! P-Perfect!" It then spasmed before it melted into a puddle of green ectoplasmic slime.

"Yeah, supposed to be," retorted Danny. He then turned to face O'Donnell. "Okay, O'Donnell," he said sternly, as he closed in on the scientist. "I've defeated your clone of me and we've practically wrecked your Blue Bow Army. Tell me, what have you done to Alex? Where is he?"

O'Donnell smiled at Danny. He knew exactly what the half-ghost was talking about from the instant Danny mentioned that name.  
"Alex?" he exclaimed in mock bemusement. "Who's Alex?" he asked curiously, despite knowing what Danny was talking about. "I'm afraid I don't know who you're talking about. Now… Well… I don't seem to remember any Alex," he said thoughtfully, "but that name does sound very familiar… Now where have I heard it before?"

"Quit it," snapped Danny angrily. "You're in no position to do that. Tell me! Where's Alex?"

"Hm, Alex… Alex," murmured O'Donnell mockingly. "Ah! I remember now! Yes!" He laughed. "I'm Alex," he said and gestured towards himself.

Danny shook his head.  
"No, you can't be!" he protested. "You're not Alex!"

"Alex O'Donnell," retorted O'Donnell with a smile on his face. "That's my name. You see, I lied to you in that dream. My first name was never Wolf. It never will be." He laughed at the expression he saw on Danny's face, one of pure bemusement, one that deserved his disdain. "Ah, but if you're talking about that young Alex you saw… The one with the silvery grey hair…" He smiled widely and nearly failed to repress a laugh. "Is that the Alex you were talking about?" he asked curiously.

"You know I am," was Danny's reply.

"Ah, Zeross' Granddaughter," exclaimed O'Donnell in a tone of voice that was usually reserved for fond memories, but seemed to be dripping of bitter spite. "Alexia was her name," he continued. "Such a troublesome girl. Three years ago, she found out about her grandfather's magic experiments and disturbed him. If it hadn't been for her, I would have achieved my goals then and not now." He sighed and shook his head. "If it weren't for her, the school would never have burned down. Foolish brat. Disturbing the ceremony, like that!"

"It was her fault the school burned down!" he continued. "If she hadn't distracted her grandfather, Professor Zeross would never have accidentally unleashed the fire demons that devoured the school and claimed so many lives!" A smile spread across his face. "So when we came back, I punished her, or her ghost at least. I imprisoned her in a purgatory world I created by building an exact replica of the school on top of its ruins. And to make sure she would never escape, I implanted a bit of my own id inside her, a ghost fragment of my personality if you will. That kept her in line." He then stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Had the side effect of turning her into a male, but at least I had control over her."

If O'Donnell was telling the truth, then this man was even worse than Fordyce. Danny just hoped that he wasn't telling the truth.  
"You're lying!" he protested in disbelief.

"Am I?" exclaimed O'Donnell in what sounded like surprise but was obviously feigned. "Well, if you don't believe me, why don't you ask her yourself?" He smiled. "It shouldn't be too difficult. After all, in the end I decided to use her ghost as the base for the Life Eater." O'Donnell then pointed towards the machine. "You can find her in there," he told Danny. "Why don't you go in and ask her yourself?"

Suimsalp cried out.  
"That's all I need to hear!" he shouted, before firing a bolt of eerie ectoplasmic energy through the air that struck O'Donnell in the chest and flung him backwards, to hit the metal railing and then collapse to the floor.

Danny whirled round.  
"What did you do that for?" he asked Suimsalp angrily.

"I only came here for the Life Eater," replied Suimsalp calmly, as he regarded Danny. "You see, if I devour the Life Eater, the Ultimate Ghost, I will become like a God! Nothing will stop me from achieving my dreams!"

"What? Ghost eating?" exclaimed Tucker. "But I thought you _Mao Shang_ hated Ghost Eaters!"

Danny shook his head.  
"He's not _Mao Shang_, Tuck," he told his friend. "Am I right, V-Man?" he then asked Suimsalp.

Suimsalp looked surprised.  
"V…" he began and then trailed off. He had only been called that once before and that was when… Suimsalp suddenly realised what that meant and a smile then spread across his lips. "How did you know who I was, Daniel?" he asked Danny curiously.

A sigh was Danny's reply, as he rolled his eyes.  
"Please, it was easy!" he exclaimed. "I mean, come on! Suimsalp? Plasmius spelt backwards? Could you have made it any easier to figure out?" He turned back round to look at O'Donnell and then turned back round to look at Suimsalp, or rather, Vlad Plasmius.

The old man laughed, before a ring of light passed over his body and he changed. His stature straightened and his clothes became a white jumpsuit. His face became blue and his hair a pitch black, and his eyes glowed a deep, malevolent red.  
"Very good, Daniel," he said to the young half-ghost in a hushed tone of voice. "So, you knew who I was all this time. Tell me, why didn't you expose me when you had the chance?"

"I wanted to know what you were up to," was Danny's reply, "coz, you know what? Frankly, I can't trust you." He then gestured towards O'Donnell. "Is it any wonder why?"

"I don't understand!" protested Sam suddenly. "Does this mean…? So you were using us all this time."

Plasmius turned round to face Sam with a grin on his face.  
"That's right, my dear girl," he told her calmly. "When I found out that you were the targets of the Blue Bow Army, that you yourselves were attempting to take them down, I had to grasp the opportunity before me. I couldn't fight against the Blue Bow Army by myself and they had all the goodies I could ever want." He smiled.

"That'd explain how you survived being blasted by the Danny Clone," said Tucker sternly.

"It'd also explain why I couldn't find your body in the pool," said Valerie.

There was suddenly a laugh, but it did not belong to Plasmius. They all turned round.

O'Donnell had staggered back to his feet and as he glared at them, he wiped a trail of blood from the corner of his mouth.  
"Well done, Mr. Plasmius," he said sarcastically. "It would seem that you've managed to outfox even me. I had a sneaking suspicion that you were up to something when you left the Executive Committee, but never did I think you'd go to all this trouble to circumvent my plans and take my Life Eater for your own." He straightened and dusted himself off in a haughty manner. "I, however, will still have the last laugh! You will never consume my life's work! My life's work shall consume you!" He turned to face the machine. "Life Eater! Awaken! Awaken and devour this world!"

There was a terrible rumbling.

It came from the Fate Determination Machine that rested in the centre of the Central Instrument Room, that took up all five floors of the grand chamber. The machine started to move. Its 'legs' started to flex and its arms lowered and the spikes on it began to flex. The machine was being possessed and with very passing second, it became more life-like as if it was a living creature made of metal and glass.

A single eye appeared in the concave mirror of the machine before it rotated round to glare at Danny and Plasmius. The machine then lashed out, nearly crushing them underneath its spiked arms.

"That's right!" laughed O'Donnell, as he watched the machine attack Danny and Plasmius. "Crush them both! Tear them limb from limb!"

Danny fired a plasma bolt straight into the glass tubes that made up the machine's torso, shattering a few of them and spilling liquid on to the floor. He was about to go in for the kill, but one of the spiked arms of the machine lashed out at him. It hit him and he was sent flying back to crash into one off the walls with a heavy thud, the impact of which made his teeth jar and his eyes close. He nearly didn't see the same arm hurtle straight at him, but heard Sam cry out. He opened his eyes and saw the spikes hurtling straight at him.

He quickly became intangible and the arm went through him, crashing into the wall with such force that it punched a hole straight through it. Danny flew upwards and then straight at the machine, knowing that he would be able to disable it if he could just get inside. He rushed straight at the glass sphere of the machine and would have gone through it, were it not for the excessive ivy surrounding it that prevented ghosts from penetrating the machine from the outside.

Now Danny knew how a fly felt when it hit a window, as he floated away from the glass sphere. He was dazed from the impact against the glass. He was so dazed, he did not notice the metallic arm rush straight at him before it was too late. The sharp spikes rushed past him and missed him narrowly, cutting him only slightly on their sharp edges. That pain made him focus. The pain of it made his senses sharp again and all of them focused on the impulses that raced through his nerves to register in his mind as pain.

A plasma bolt flew through the air and struck the metallic exterior of the Life Eater, for lack of a better name for it. The machine reared back, even though the shot didn't break the glass. There was a strange roaring noise from the machine, that seemed more machine than animal and then a beam of ectoplasmic energy flew from the concave mirror at Valerie, whom had been the one to open fire on the Life Eater.

Valerie leapt out of the way, the energy beam cutting through the metal where she had been standing like a hot knife through butter. She looked up to glare at the machine and at the old man inside.

"P-Paradise," groaned a voice from the machine, the Life Eater, a feminine voice. "Bow down and d-die!" The Life Eater then thrust one its metallic arms straight at the nearest living thing it could see, crushing O'Donnell underneath its spikes, killing its creator. "G-Give your life to the L-Life Eater. G-Give up your existence for P-Paradise on Earth! Cease t-to exist!" The Life Eater then raised its spiked arms and then flung a punch at Danny, but missed as he flew over the metallic limb.

Danny charged up energy in his right hand and would have fired at the machine, were it not for Plasmius.

At the last moment, Plasmius shoved Danny into the way of the Life Eater's great sweeping spiked arms. He became intangible at the last minute, right before he could hit the sharp pointed spikes that would have skewered him. But the Life Eater had already taken notice of him. It fired a powerful beam of energy from its one eye, the eye that took up the concave mirror, a beam that hit Danny despite him being intangible.

"See you later, Daniel!" laughed Plasmius, before he flew down towards the hole in the tubes that Danny had created earlier. He laughed as he flew through the hole and then disappeared into the machine.

Though in great pain, Danny knew that he had to enter the machine himself and follow Plasmius in before he could consume the main part of the Life Eater, the spiritual side, the ghostly part that made the machine what it was. He flew after Plasmius, dodging the laser beams that flew from the concave mirror of what had once been the Fate Determination Machine. He dodged the metallic arms and then flew straight at the hole, entering it and then…

* * *

Ten people sat at the judicial bench, each dressed in yellow, silk Oriental robes. Each one was blindfolded and on the blindfold was painted a few Chinese words in red ink that read, 'Justice is Blind, yet Heaven sees All'. In the place of the white powder wig that judges wear, each one of these men wore a black hat with two pieces of fabric that curved out from its side and a veil of pearls that hung from the top of the hat to end just above his forehead. And all looked identical to one another, with no apparent differences between the ten.

The room seemed to be made of gold, as the walls were of a yellow, golden aura and the room seemed to be filled with a golden light.

Conversely, Chinese lamps hung from the ceiling, each glowing darkly with a black anti-light that seemed to chase away the light as normal light chases away the darkness.

Danny opened his eyes to find that he was standing at one of the two tables set in front of the judges. He turned round and saw a jury full of shapeless forms, each of them missing their right eye and each of them staring at him with their lone, left eye. Danny felt uncomfortable as he stood there, before the jury and the ten blindfolded men that seemed to stare at him sightlessly through their blindfolds.

"Daniel Fenton!" called out one of the blind-folded men, one of the Lords of Death, the _Shi Ti'en Yen Wang_. "You are hereby charged with violating the Kingdom of _Feng Du_, the Realm of Death! How do you plead?"

"What?" exclaimed Danny in disbelief.

"Daniel Fenton!" cried out another of the _Shi Ti'en Yen Wang_ and his voice sounded exactly like the voice of the other Judge that had spoken. "You are also here on charges of abandoning your duty as _Shou Ge Wang_ and transgression against the King of _Feng Du_, Vladimir Masters! How do you plead?"

There was a look of complete disbelief on Danny's face, as he stood there. Had he heard right? He mouthed out Vlad's name in disbelief. It wasn't possible. It couldn't have been possible. Vlad Plasmius was now the King of _Feng Du_? Then what happened to the old King? Had this something to do with the Life Eater? Had Plasmius consumed the Life Eater?

"Not guilty!" protested Danny angrily.

One of the Judges rose from his seat and spoke, and his voice sounded exactly the same as that of the Judge that had spoken before him.  
"I am _Qin Guang Wang_," announced the Judge, "Judicial King of the First Court of _Feng Du_." He clapped his hands and a mirror suddenly appeared in front of Danny. "This is the Mirror of Retribution," he announced, "that which replays out your life in every detail, which uncovers all your sins and sinful thoughts. Nothing escapes the knowledge of the Mirror of Retribution. Now we shall see your lies for what they really are. Your Honours, Members of the Jury, please consider the Evidence as shown by the Mirror."

The mirror then changed. No longer did it show Danny's reflection, but it now displayed every single event in his life where he had fought against Plasmius and thwarted his plans. It didn't take much time, though, despite showing every single excruciating detail of every event, as every image was played at quadruple speed. It showed him the time when he first encountered Plasmius and how the older half-ghost had beaten him sorely. It showed him the time later when he used the gadgets in the Fenton Family RV against Plasmius and all the others times he had fought against Plasmius.

"Please may the jury consider this evidence against the defendant," announced _Qin Guang Wang_, before he sat back down.

"We of the jury find the defendant, Daniel Fenton, guilty," announced the shadowy jury in unison, in a voice that sounded familiar to Danny.

"What?" exclaimed Danny in disbelief. "What about my side of the story?"

One of the Judges then spoke up.  
"That was your side of the story," was his reply to Danny's question. "Since the Mirror does not lie, it provides evidence for both prosecution and defence all at once. It is a very efficient system."

"Yes, a very efficient system," agreed one of the other Judges in a voice that was exactly the same as that of the first Judge that had spoken.

That voice! Now Danny recognised it. The jury spoke with the same voice as the Judges and the Judges spoke in a voice that Danny recognised as being a combination of Alex's voice, the Alex he knew from the dream school, and that of Vlad Plasmius.

"Okay, Plasmius, I've figured it out," called out Danny. "I know it's you that's doing this!"

The Judges and the jury laughed as one.  
"Oh, really?" they all said in unison. They all chuckled. "So, what do you think of my new position of power?"

"I don't think it's the right job for you," was Danny's reply. "Now let go of them," stated Danny sternly.

"Let go of them?" exclaimed Plasmius. "Never!"

The jury suddenly faded away, as did the Judges. The empty room suddenly began to shake violently and cracks appeared in the ceiling and the floor. The cracks spread, looking like black spider's legs, as dust and small bits of plaster and stone fell from the ceiling and shook loose from the cracks. The rumbling shook and it wasn't long before Danny had to float off the ground to avoid being knocked off his feet by the severe quake that now tore through the room.

Suddenly, the ceiling and wall tore apart, the rubble flying away into the darkness to reveal a clear night sky filled with stars, almost as if they were in space.

Vlad Plasmius appeared in front of Danny and as he did so, the stars died and they were plunged into a darkness that seemed as bright or anti-bright as light itself. It illuminated them darkly, making it possible for them to see as if it was light itself, and it illuminated Vlad's body as it sat inside some strange mechanical device that looked like a tank that covered his body up to his waist.

"_Yen Lo Wang_, the last King, is gone now," stated Vlad sternly, but though he spoke, his mouth didn't seem to move and neither did his face. "There is only me now. I am the King of Death, the sole King of Death and I command the Fate of All Humanity!"

"Yeah, right," said Danny sarcastically. "Not if I can help it."

"Daniel, Daniel, Daniel," sighed Vlad in a tone of voice that implied he would have shaken his head at the same time. "Who taught you to be so foolish? Your father? If you couldn't defeat me when I was just a half-ghost, what makes you think you have a chance against me now that I'm a God?" He laughed, as he spread his arms, as if inviting Daniel to strike. "Well, if you insist on standing against me, Daniel, go ahead! Take your best shot!"

There was a terrible silence all around them, as they waited there. It was a terrifying silence. It was a momentous silence.

"Okay, but you asked for it," said Danny, as he focused energy in between the palms of his hands, building up a powerful charge that he intended to strike Plasmius with. "Here! Take this!" he cried, before firing a powerful beam of energy straight at Plasmius, the largest and most concentrated beam of energy he had ever fired at Plasmius, one inspired by his rage against the madman.

It struck Plasmius in the chest and he cried out in pain, as the energy seared his body.

"W-What?" exclaimed Plasmius, a look of shock on his face. "My… I never expected you to hit me so hard. You've certainly grown stronger, my Daniel Fenton." A smile slowly spread across Plasmius' lips.

"I'm not yours," protested Danny angrily, as he stared at Plasmius with clenched fists. "I'll never be yours."

Plasmius chuckled.  
"I guess that's what made you so fascinating to me," he told Danny. "Just like with your Mother, I couldn't stop thinking about you. There was something about you. You were so unobtainable and I found that so enthralling. I wanted you. I wanted to make you mine and mine alone, just like your mother." He sighed. "O'Donnell settled for a copy of you, but I want the real deal. I could never settle for a clone of you, Daniel. I want you."

"I'm flattered, but I don't think I'm your type," retorted Danny.

There was a laugh from Plasmius, despite the fact that his mouth never opened.  
"Still you defy me," he sighed. "Still you try to push yourself away from me, but don't you see…? I am a God now and the offer I made you when we first met is still valid. Become my apprentice, Daniel. Become my prodigy and I shall teach you everything I know and you shall be like a God as well! Become mine!"

Danny didn't say a word, as if he was deep in thought. The expression on his face made it seem as if he was thinking about Plasmius' proposal, as if he was thinking about becoming the Son of a God. Yet what would that make him, to be the Adopted Son of a God of Death? What did that all mean?  
"You know what I say to your offer?" asked Danny with a smile on his face, a smile that soon disappeared, to be replaced by a stern look of pure determination. "You can shove it, coz I'm not going to be yours. You can't have my mother, you can't have me and you can't have this world!"

"I'm sorry to hear you say that, Danny," said Plasmius apologetically. "I guess this means that you have to die." He then made choking noises, as if something was constricting his throat or rather, as if something was blocking it. Plasmius grasped at his throat as if to try to take a noose of his neck. "W-What's happening t-to m-me?" he exclaimed in a horrified tone of voice, as his entire body convulsed. He screamed and his scream echoed around him, lingering in the air.

Suddenly, Plasmius glowed with a brilliant golden light that forced Danny to turn away and shield his eyes.

There was suddenly a huge blast of energy that threw Danny straight off his feet. He landed with a heavy thud on his back and felt wave after wave of hot energy, of air that seemed to be hot enough to melt a titanium, pass over his body. Danny couldn't stand it, the great brilliance of light that radiated from Plasmius, the light that made him seem as if he was a Sun or a supernova.

Soon, though, the light began to die away and the heat died away with it too. The air suddenly became cold as ice, as Death itself.

Danny shivered, as he uncovered his eyes. He could feel some kind of moisture condensing on him, but he saw none. It was as if the darkness around him had melted and was now condensing on his body, maybe even solidifying around him. Yet it was nothing like the fear that was even now condensing within him, upon the sight of the new Plasmius.

Yet it couldn't have been Plasmius. The face that stared down at him did not belong to Plasmius.

The creature was pure white with shades of black every now and there. Its chest was lean and gaunt and black ribs curved around it, like some kind of protection for the chest. Its arms were lean and long and ended with hands with viciously sharp claws that looked as if they could rip Danny apart in mere seconds. The thing had no legs, only a skeletal tail that reminded Danny of a spinal cord in its shape. And the head that stared at him from this monstrous body kept rotating to display its four faces, that of Plasmius, that of O'Donnell, that of the Danny Clone and that of Alex, each of them with only one eye, the left eye.

"P-Paradise!" stuttered the monster and though none of the lips moved, it spoke in a voice that sounded like a mix of Alex's voice, Plasmius' voice, Danny's voice and O'Donnell's voice. "B-Bow down before y-your new G-God and d-die!"

* * *

**_To be continued..._**


	14. Chapter 14: Minor Thing

Author's Note: The lyrics featured in this chapter are from the Red Hot Chilli Pepper's "_Minor Thing_", which is Danny's theme tune for this particular fanfic. After all, Danny is a minor king when you think about it, huh?  
P.S. I won't be doing a sequel to this story, no matter how much you plead. Sequels aren't my thing as of late, but I will be doing a new Danny Phantom fic after this with a neat twist to it. ;)

* * *

**Chapter Fourteen: Minor Thing**

Danny couldn't understand what had happened to Plasmius. This new form of Plasmius seemed vaguely inarticulate. It kept repeating the same phrases whenever it tried to speak to him. It would always talk of paradise and how he was supposed to bow down and give his life to it.

Certainly, this was not Plasmius in the true sense of someone being who they were. It may once have been Plasmius and it may have his body, but it certainly wasn't Plasmius. This was an amalgamation of all the entities that had gone into making the Life Eater and Plasmius himself. It was a mixture of fragments that had combined to dull the intelligence, to create an idiot machine incapable of pure rational thought, only the most simple of logical thought, a strange being that was an idiot and had power, something dangerous. It had become a danger of great proportions, a terrifying ghostly menace, a Phantom Hazard.

The white-haired half-ghost looked behind him and then at the monstrosity. He was the only thing standing in between the Phantom Hazard and the Real World. Danny was the only thing standing in the way of the Phantom Hazard's insanely over-simplistic plan of eradicating all life to create a paradise where no one would suffer, where no one suffered because they wouldn't exist in the first place.

Danny was sure that O'Donnell intended to remain alive, so that he would be there to rebuild the world in his own image. But now that O'Donnell wasn't there, if the Phantom Hazard succeeded, there would be nothing. Perhaps this was O'Donnell's revenge, set in motion by his own death? Perhaps this was the way that O'Donnell planned to avenge his own death, by ensuring that his absence would result in the complete destruction of all life and all sentient thought.

"You're not getting past me!" Danny called out to the Phantom Hazard, as he floated in front of it with his arms spread out wide. "I won't let you pass me. I won't let you destroy my world!"

"P-Paradise," called out the Phantom Hazard. "N-Nothing shall stand… stand in w-way of L-Lord O'Donnell's ideals. All l-life, all g-ghosts shall cease to exist…"

"O'Donnell's dead!" cried Danny angrily. "You can't complete his plan without him!"

The Phantom Hazard raised its arms.  
"For L-Lord O'Donnell's ideals," repeated the Phantom Hazard. "For Lord O-O'Donnell!" Its head then rotated so that Alex's face faced Danny. "Die!" it screamed, before the Phantom Hazard swung a clawed hand at Danny.

The half-ghost, the appointed Harvest King, knew that becoming intangible wasn't one of the best methods of defence against the Phantom Hazard. Instead he flew out of the way and fired a powerful blast of energy at the Phantom Hazard's chest, only to see the beam of energy hit it harmlessly. His attack was to the Phantom Hazard, what a minor prick of a thumb is to a human. Danny fired another blast again, just to make sure and watched as it hit the Phantom Hazard directly in the chest. He saw that it left no mark on the Phantom Hazard. It was completely unscathed.

"No way!" protested Danny in disbelief.

"B-Bow down and d-die," announced the Phantom Hazard, as its head rotated so that O'Donnell's face faced Danny to stare morosely at the half-ghost.

A laser flew from O'Donnell's one eye and struck the floor, missing Danny completely. But the floor around the laser beam started to boil and darken, becoming a dark plasma-like mess that swirled towards the centre where the laser hit it like some kind of whirlpool. A great force suddenly erupted from the whirlpool and Danny felt himself being drawn in towards it as if it was a black hole that seemed to intent on pulling everything inside it, a black hole that was intent on consuming everything and destroying everything that it consumed.

The head of the Phantom Hazard rotated around again, this time so that Alex's stared at Danny. It blinked one eye at Danny, before the head rotated around again so that Plasmius' façade ended up facing Danny. The mouth opened and a powerful beam of energy erupted out of it to strike Danny and he was completely engulfed in the powerful energy beam, the very heat of it, the very energy of it broiling him.

Danny, in pain, lost his concentration and fell towards the black hole that the O'Donnell face had created in the floor. He didn't wake up until it was too late, until he had reached the 'event horizon' of the whirlpool. By then it was too late and his struggles to break free amounted to nothing. The whirlpool sucked him in and Danny suddenly disappeared into it.

Suddenly, the great dark plasma that made up the whirlpool shrank towards the singularity where Danny had fallen. It crashed in onto Danny's body like a wave of water and he felt the darkness go inside him. He could feel the darkness searing his heart, drowning him until it filled him completely.

The Phantom Hazard rotated its head again until the face of the Danny Clone faced Danny. It blinked once before the Phantom Hazard's great claws started to glow with a ghostly green energy. Aiming its clawed hands at Danny, it then opened fire, sending a ray of ectoplasmic energy hurtling straight at the white-haired half-ghost.

The great shadow that filled Danny, that made him feel as if he was drowning in darkness, weighed him down. Though he wanted to, he found himself unable to break move out of the way of the two large beams of ectoplasmic energy. All Danny could do was stay where he was and let the energy engulf his body in the hope that it would burn away the shadows that kept him from moving. And then they hit him and he cried out in pain as the energy burnt his body, and the shadows that clung to him, that invaded his own body, still clung to him tightly.

So consumed by pain, Danny didn't even notice the small globules of darkness that broke away from the main mass that engulfed his body. He didn't notice these small globules flying towards the Phantom Hazard before merging with the colossal monster. Danny didn't even consider that he was slowly being digested and consumed by the Phantom Hazard and that every attack it would dish out was to break him up more quickly.

Alex's face was the next to come up. The Phantom Hazard lashed out at Danny, smashing its clawed hand on top of him and then raked its hand towards its own body, its great claws running over him.

Danny was sure that he wasn't going to survive the fight, at least not without severe battle scars. He was quite surprised that he hadn't been torn to shreds already what with the punishment he had been receiving at the hands of the Phantom Hazard. If he didn't break free from the shadows that pinned him down, he was sure he would be a goner. He was sure that he would then never see his friends and his family. He would never see his older sister and never be able to apologise for embarrassing her so many times, and for rejecting her help back when she was so concerned for him and being difficult around her.

"No!" cried Danny, as he suddenly realised that he couldn't die. "No! It won't end like this!" Danny started to concentrate on focusing all his energy in one place. He focused as much as energy as possible in the centre of his body, knowing that if he released it, it would diffuse outwards rapidly and burst out, destroying the shadows that clung to him and were digesting him. "I won't let you win!" he roared, before releasing the energy and letting it rip apart the shadows that smothered him.

The O'Donnell face turned back round to face Danny, before opening its mouth and firing a laser that would have struck him if he hadn't flown out of the way.

Danny looked down and saw the ground broil and the whirlpool of shadows appear again. He knew what was going to happen. He had experienced it before, but this time he was not going to let himself fall for that trick again.

The Clone's face was next up to glare at Danny. The great claws of the Phantom Hazard began to glow and it swung one of them at Danny, only to miss as he flew out of the way. The Phantom Hazard released energy from one of the claws, creating a massive green energy beam that flew straight up at Danny, only to miss again. Its head rotated again, this time for Alex's face to appear, and then it clapped its claws together in an attempt to smash Danny in between them.

"Missed!" exclaimed Danny, as he rose upwards.

The head of the Phantom Hazard rotated again.

Plasmius' face was the next one to appear and that was exactly what Danny was hoping for. He focused energy in between his hands, as much energy as possible, before firing it off into Plasmius' lone left eye.

The energy beam struck the left eye, but the Phantom Hazard didn't even cry out in pain. It only blinked before the head started rotating at impossible speeds. The Phantom Hazard's head became a roulette of faces and it seemed as if nobody would know what face the Phantom Hazard's head stopped on, least of all the Phantom Hazard itself.

Danny waited with baited breath for the outcome of his attack. Had he hurt the Phantom Hazard or did he just end up doing nothing more than to fuel its rage?

The spinning of the Phantom Hazard's head started to slow down, until it stopped on the Danny Clone's face. The Phantom Hazard blinked before its hands became great glowing claws and it fired twin energy beams, each equally ten times the size of Danny.

There was no way that Danny could have gotten out of the way. The beams of energy were far too great. Danny quickly formed a shield of ectoplasmic energy around him in the hope that it would serve to protect him somewhat from the Phantom Hazard. He closed his eyes after forming the shield, as the energy hit him and rushed past him. He could feel the heat of the energy as it rushed past his body and he feared the worst as the energy hit him head on, the full power of the Phantom Hazard's rage unleashed on to him.

Slowly, Danny opened his eyes. He found himself intact. His shield had worked after all.

"P-P-Paradise," stuttered the Phantom Hazard, upon seeing that Danny had survived. "D-Die… Bow d-down!" It slashed its claws through the air and at Danny in an attempt to swat him out of the air, but it missed. "Paradise!" screamed the Phantom Hazard, as its head spun until the face of Plasmius rotated into view. The mouth opened and a purple beam of energy flew from its mouth.

Danny was prepared to dodge this one. He flew above the ray, before he rushed straight at the Phantom Hazard. The half-ghost had to admit to himself that he had never fought anything as big as the Phantom Hazard, except for his first encounter with Technus and even then, he couldn't defeat Technus without the help of his friends. Yet they weren't there and he had to fight against the Phantom Hazard on his own.

The head spun round and Alex's face rotated into view.

That made Danny stop in his tracks. He couldn't hurt Alex, even if it was only his face attached to the Phantom Hazard.

A great white claw suddenly hit Danny, swatting him out of the air. He fell towards the black whirlpool of shadows that still bubbled on the floor and would have fallen back in, had he not stopped himself short. Danny suddenly became intangible and the other clawed hand went straight through him, much to his own relief.

The great whirlpool of shadows suddenly collapsed in on itself and there was geyser of shadows that rose up out of the centre at Danny.

It never hit him as he flew backwards out of its way. He watched as the shadows flew up into the air to take on the form of several sharp spikes before each one flew through him. There were so many that Danny couldn't dodge them all. There were so many that he couldn't blast them all to pieces. So he did both. He dodged as many as he could, blasting others to smithereens.

The Phantom Hazard's head spun round until the face of Plasmius ended up facing Danny. It opened its mouth and the great cavity started to glow with an eerie purple energy, before a great beam of energy erupted from the Phantom Hazard's mouth, destroying everything in its path.

That was a tired move. Danny dodged it merely by flying high above it.

What he didn't expect was the Phantom Hazard's head to rotate so that the O'Donnell face confronted Danny with its dark gaze, with an eye that was of such a dark brown that it almost looked black. It didn't seem to move, its chest heaving unexpectedly before it opened its mouth and a great gush of green liquid spewed out from the Phantom Hazard's mouth.

Danny nearly didn't escape it. A small drop landed on his suit and started to eat away at the fabric like concentrated acid. He looked at the burning acid and then up at the face of the Phantom Hazard, the face of O'Donnell that glared at him soullessly.

The head rotated once more.

The half-ghost, the Harvest King, Danny had had enough. He inhaled deeply before holding his hands out in front of him as if he was holding an invisible ball with the both of them. Danny quickly focused as much energy as he could in between his hands, charging up a powerful mass of ectoplasmic energy to fire at the Phantom Hazard. He knew he had to act quickly and act quickly he did, as he let rip with a powerful blast that tore through the air.

Alex's face slowed to a stop to face Danny, only to suddenly be hit by the beam of energy. The Phantom Hazard screamed in agony, as the head spun round uncontrollably, its entire body shaking violently.

"Alex," murmured Danny under his breath, as he thought about what O'Donnell had said.

"I decided to use her ghost as the base for the Life Eater," O'Donnell had said and he had referred to Alex, or rather, to Alexia.

"So he wasn't lying after all," said Danny in a tone of voice that almost suggested defeatism.

The spinning of the Phantom Hazard's head suddenly started to slow, until the face of Alex suddenly came up. There was a cracking noise, as the face frowned, before the head spun round again until the Danny Clone's face was in direct view. It glared at Danny with its terrifying eye, before the Phantom Hazard's hands started to glow an eerie green glow like Danny's had done many times before.

"Not this time round!" cried Danny, before he flew around the Phantom Hazard in an attempt to find Alex's face. He didn't really want to hit the friend of someone whom had become a best friend in the short time he had spent at the phantom Streete Court High, but he knew he had to. That face was the Phantom Hazard's weakness and he had to exploit it if he wanted to save the Earth from the beast.

"Bow down and d-die for P-Paradise!" cried out the Phantom Hazard.

Danny screamed as he was suddenly caught in the blast of ectoplasmic energy from the Phantom Hazard.

And he fell.

* * *

"Bow down and d-die for P-Paradise!" cried out the voice from the Machine.

Jazz felt completely unsafe as she squatted underneath the huge sheet of metal that had once been part of the floor of the Observation Deck. Any moment, she felt as if any moment the metal would give way and crush her underneath. Was that really preferable to going out into the open though, where the great hulking machine body of the Life Eater was? Was it really that preferable to being crushed underneath the vicious spikes of the Life Eater's metallic arms or its spidery legs.

Outside, she could hear Valerie battling against the vicious thing with her all her might. She could hear Valerie opening fire at the machine with her vast array of weaponry and her parents joining in, using some weapons they had managed to scrounge from the ground, weapons that had been left behind by the Blue Bow Soldiers when they had fled the Tower, from the reign of the Danny Phantom Clone and from the terrifying might of O'Donnell's Life Eater.

Jazz felt absolutely useless as she crouched there, completely defenceless, without a weapon to hand. She wished that she could join them out there, but she knew she couldn't. Then again, her parents had been insistent on her staying with Sam and Tucker, what with them all being weaponless. Yet, she couldn't help but feel as if there was something she could have done to help. She couldn't lead Sam and Tucker to safety, what with the Life Eater having blocked all exists, but surely there was something better she could do than sit underneath an unstable sheet of metal that could collapse on top of them.

"I wish Danny were here," whined Tucker, as he crouched underneath the sheet of metal helplessly. "He'd kick this thing's butt."

"Tucker!" cried Sam angrily, as she nudged the bespectacled kid. "Ixnay on the Annyday."

"That's okay," said Jazz calmly. "I know all about Danny's powers."

Both of Danny's best friends turned round to face Jazz, their heads spinning round so quickly it almost seemed as if they would snap right off their necks.  
"You what?" they exclaimed simultaneously in disbelief.

A faint smile spread across Jazz's lips.  
"I've known for quite some time now," she told them calmly, as she hugged her legs more tightly. "When I confronted you guys, you were so defensive about what really happened to him. I found out a day afterwards, when Danny transformed outside the ice cream parlour." She laughed, but it wasn't a mocking laugh or a derisive laugh. It was the kind of laugh that you have when you don't really know what to really feel. "It sure explained a lot," she said.

Jazz looked up at Sam and Tucker.  
"You're both really good friends to him," she told them, "to keep a big secret away from everyone." She sighed and then looked away from him. "I suppose he saves the day quite a bit, huh?" she asked them without even giving them eye-contact. "Like the time at Casper High?"

"Yeah," was Sam's reply. "He does."

"And nobody knows," said Jazz sadly. "Isn't that just, the sad part? No one really appreciates him for what he's done, yet he still does it anyway."

"Yeah, he's funny like that," replied Tucker with a nod of his head. "But you know, I wouldn't have him any other way."

"Nor would I," said Sam in agreement with a nod of her head.

The smile had returned to Jazz's lips, or maybe, it hadn't even left her lips at all. She wasn't sure herself, but all she knew was that the smile was there now and it conveyed all her emotions.  
"I wish Danny didn't have to," sighed Jazz. "I wish he didn't have to be the hero, to put himself in danger like that, like he's doing now. I'm sure you don't want him to either, huh, Sam?"

In the space that followed after Jazz's words, they could hear the sounds of the battle ravaging not too far away from them. The sounds were getting closer and it seemed that they were not safe sheltered underneath the remnants of the Observation Deck, but where else could they turn to? Where else could they go? All exits had been blocked and that sheet of metal, that had once been a floor, was the only shield they had from the attacks of the Life Eater.

"No, I guess I don't," replied Sam with a shake of her head, "but if he didn't…" She trailed off.

"Yeah, I know," replied Jazz with a nod of her head, as if she knew what Sam was getting at. "And I'm proud of him doing what he does and if my parents knew, I'm sure they'd be proud of him too, even if he is part ghost."

"I'm sure Danny'd be glad to hear that," said Sam.

"Yeah," agreed Tucker. "He'd be glad to hear that."

* * *

Danny's eyes fluttered open. He felt uncomfortable, as if he was wearing a jacket made out of whale bone.

As his eyes became accustomed to the blinding darkness that seemed as bright as a thousand suns, he could see the ghostly white features of the Phantom Hazard. Danny soon realised he was in trouble. He could see that he was in the hand of the Phantom Hazard and that it was raising him up to the Phantom Hazard's head and towards Plasmius' mouth, not that it mattered which face the mouth belonged to, seeing as all faces were joined to the Phantom Hazard and all mouths led to the Phantom Hazard's innards.

"No, let go of me!" cried Danny, as he struggled to break free from the Phantom Hazard's grip. He had too much to live for. He had friends, he had family and he had his entire life ahead of him and Danny was not going to let this monstrosity take them away from him. "Let go of me!" he screamed, before focusing all his energy into his hands in preparation for the stunt he knew he had to pull in order to be able to break free from the Phantom Hazard. "Let go!" he shouted, before blasting at the Phantom Hazard's hands with all he'd got.

There was a scream from the Phantom Hazard and it let go of Danny as if he was a hot iron rod. It flailed its arms wildly, its vicious claws slicing blindly through the air in an attempt to strike the _Shou Ge Wang_ down. The Phantom Hazard suddenly started to become intangible and sank through the floor as if it was made from quicksand.

Danny still felt cold, as he floated there in mid-air. He knew the Phantom Hazard hadn't gone far. It was still around, lurking inside the floor so as it couldn't be hurt. He knew it was only a matter of time before it would rise back up and ambush him.

Two great white claws suddenly rose up out of the floor to grasp at Danny, but he flew out of the way. There was a flame and the Phantom Hazard's head suddenly appeared in between its two claws. It glared viciously at Danny before the head disappeared as did the claws.

Seconds later, the Phantom Hazard reappeared in its full entirety, floating there like some great demon. Its head spun round until Alex's face replaced that of the Danny Clone's. Then its hands suddenly burst into flames and the Phantom Hazard made a grab for Danny with fiery claws, before its entire body suddenly burst into flames, making its entire body seem black in the bright red of the fires. And bits of fire broke off from the main fire to form the shapes of bats and birds with human heads, fiery representations of all those that had gone into making the Phantom Hazard, fiery representations that flew straight at Danny like birds flying in to catch their prey.

Extending his hands out, Danny created a shield of ectoplasmic energy surrounding him. He watched as the fiery ghost fragments hit the shield and dissipated, each one of them. Danny didn't get it. Was the Phantom Hazard seriously thinking that would do the trick against him or did it have something up its sleeve? Impossible. This Phantom Hazard was a mindless beast without its creator to keep it in check. How could it be smart enough to trick him?

A roar escaped the Phantom Hazard's mouth before it swung a fiery claw straight at Danny, swatting him out of the air. Its other clawed hand suddenly swept up towards Danny, as if to catch him but it didn't and used the palm of its other claw to smack Danny back. The Phantom Hazard then swung both of its clawed hands together to crush Danny between them.

They never hit him, as he regained his senses. He became intangible and flew through the clawed hands, focusing his energy into his hands before firing a green energy beam straight at the Phantom Hazard's head.

"L-Lord O'Donnell!" called out the Phantom Hazard. "P-Paradise! Ideals of P-Paradise!"

The artificial ghost became intangible, as its head rotated until O'Donnell's face appeared in front of Danny. The thing then opened its mouth and fired a powerful beam of dark energy that flew through the air and nearly hit Danny, had he not flown out of the way at the very last minute. The Phantom Hazard then disappeared, becoming invisible.

One of its clawed hands suddenly appeared underneath Danny before it rose upwards and fits great clawed fingers flexed inwards to encage him. He flew higher, escaping its grasp before the clawed hand clenched tightly and then burst into flames to incinerate what it would have caught if it had been just a tiny bit quicker. The Phantom Hazard's other clawed hand suddenly reappeared in a burst of flames and moved sideways to swat Danny out of the way, but missed again. Its head appeared, to reveal Alex's face, before the Phantom Hazard drew its clawed hands back and then slapped them together in another attempt to crush Danny between them.

"You're not too bright, are you?" said Danny, as he flew out of the way. "If I didn't fall for it the first time, what makes you think I'll fall for it again?" He shook his head. "I've had enough of you. It's time for you to go down!" He then flew straight at the Phantom Hazard and with all his might, he punched it in the face.

Danny punched it so hard that the Phantom Hazard's head spun round uncontrollably. He flew back and then focusing as much energy as possible between his hands, he then fired an energy beam straight at the spinning head of the Phantom Hazard, hitting each face with ectoplasmic energy.

There was a terrifying screech from the Phantom Hazard and its entire body shook violently. Cracks began to appear in its exoskeleton and an eerie green light began to shine out from those cracks, as ectoplasm oozed out of the fissures in its outer exterior. The entire thing seemed to be collapsing, the entire Phantom Hazard seemed to be breaking apart before Danny's very eyes. Was it possible? Could it be that he had finally defeated the Phantom Hazard? Was it going to break apart and disintegrate?

The Phantom Hazard gave out one last bestial howl before it exploded, the energy tearing apart its body and engulfing Danny in its wake.

* * *

The great machine that had once been the Fate Determination Machine then staggered backwards.

"Ha! I knew it couldn't handle that!" exclaimed Jack Fenton, as he held the smoking anti-ghost rifle.

There was a great scream from the Machine, as of a million screams. The glass began to crack all over, fluid leaking out of it like water leaking through a cracked ship hull. Metal started to groan, as the cracks spread across the glass surface of the tubes and the great glass sphere. The ivy began to fall from the machine, as it shuddered.

Glass shattered, sending shards flying through the air to fall like snow and glitter like diamonds. Fluid gushed out as the machine teetered over like a drunk and the crashed to the floor with a great cacophony of shattering glass and smashing metal.

* * *

"My, my… Even though my Life Eater was far too powerful for Plasmius to control, you managed to defeat it," said the voice in the darkness. "I really have underestimated you, Daniel Fenton."

For the third time that day, Danny found himself awakening to an unfamiliar sight. He had almost had quite enough of being knocked unconscious, only to reawaken in some strange position that he didn't recognise himself being in before. It was getting on his nerves. He wanted nothing more than to stay conscious and the only time he wanted to be unconscious when was he went to sleep of his own free will. Was that so difficult a thing to ask?

"O'Donnell," exhaled Danny, as he got up to his feet. He stared in front of him and saw Dr. O'Donnell floating not too far away from him, now a ghost and translucent. "Where am I?"

There was a strange smile on O'Donnell's face, as he floated there with his back to the Ten Judges of _Feng Du_, all of whom had been restored upon the Phantom Hazard's defeat. It was an unnerving smile that wasn't present on anyone's face within the other-worldly court room.  
"Why, _Feng Du_, the Kingdom of Death, of course," was O'Donnell's reply. "Wherever did you think you were?"

"What are you doing here?" asked Danny angrily.

"That is a tough question," said O'Donnell sarcastically. "I don't know. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I'm dead?" He chuckled.

Danny couldn't understand. Something just didn't add up. Something was amiss and he wanted to know what it was.  
"I don't get it," he told O'Donnell with a shake of his head. "Why are you smiling? I've defeated your Life Eater. It's gone now. The Blue Bow Army's finished. You're finished and so's your mad plan."

"That may be so," agreed O'Donnell with a nod of his head, "but I've still come out on top. Plasmius is defeated and your precious Alex is gone. Both you and Plasmius have lost what you sought for, and that will give me all the satisfaction I will ever need. And now thanks to you and Plasmius, the _Shi Ti'en Yen Wang_ cannot stop me from using the Wheel of Rebirth and without Lady _Meng Po_, I will be able to retain my memories, precious memories that will allow me to take the Earth for my own!"

As O'Donnell spoke, the darkness subsided to be bathed in a golden darkness as dark as a million suns. Great columns rose upwards and the entire room changed until it looked like that of an Imperial Chinese Court, and behind O'Donnell was a table at which were seated ten men all dressed in yellow silk robes with blindfolds around their eyes. Great red banners hung from the ceiling and situated above them was a great black plaque with Chinese characters written on it in golden, proclaiming the men to be the _Shi Ti'en Yen Wang_.

"Enough!" called out one of the Judges in a harsh, stern voice that made O'Donnell. "Enough of this, O'Donnell! I, _Qin Guang Wang_, now sentence you to the Lower Levels of _Feng Du_ for your crimes. Go down with you!"

"What?" exclaimed O'Donnell in disbelief. "You're back? Already?" he cried, before Professor Zeross, Forsythe, Dyer and Ceres burst out of the ground and grabbed him, dragging him down through the floor screaming.

Danny blinked, as he looked at the floor where O'Donnell had been standing. There was no hole, there was no sign that Zeross and the others had burst out of the ground to drag O'Donnell screaming down towards the deeper depths of _Feng Du_. It was almost as if they had been ghosts, which, he guessed seeing as he was in _Feng Du_, was more than likely. He then looked up.

The _Shi Ti'en Yen Wang_ sat there sternly, facing him with blindfolds over their eyes. Danny felt uncomfortable, as he stood there, as if they were scrutinising him, as if they were judging him.

"_Shou Ge Wang_, We must thank you for saving us," stated one of the Judges sternly. "If it were not for you, We would have stayed a part of O'Donnell's Life Eater for all eternity and that is why We are in your debt."

"However," continued another one of the Ten Judges, "it has not escaped our attention that none of this would have happened if you had not neglected your duties."

"Duties?" exclaimed Danny suddenly in the pause after the Judge had spoken. Had he heard right? After praising him, were they criticising him for not doing enough? He couldn't believe it, yet he had heard them say it straight to his face. "What duties?" he shouted angrily. "I didn't know anything about any duties until it was too late. You didn't even tell me I was this _Shou Ge Wang_. I knew nothing. Why didn't any of you tell me? Why didn't any of you train me? Why did I have to find out everything by myself? Couldn't you have at least helped out a bit?"

Danny shook his head.  
"And another thing, I'm fourteen years old," he told them sternly. "What made you think I'd be suitable to be Harvest King? Don't you think fourteen year olds have enough problems without having maniacs chasing after him coz he's some special link between this world and the next?" He waited and received no reply form the Judges. "Well?"

"We only endorsed your candidacy for _Shou Ge Wang_," was the reply from one of the _Shi Ti'en Yen Wang_. "Your position as Harvest King was approved and made official by Heaven. Everything is centralised and the Central Office is Heaven. Though We do have some autonomy, ultimately everything We do is in accordance with the Mandate of Heaven."

"What about Alex?" asked Danny. "Was what happened to her also endorsed by Heaven?" His question was met by silence. "Where is he?" he asked them. "Where is she?" he asked sternly, but this time changing the pronoun. "Where is Alex?"

"I, as Judge of the First Court, have reviewed her case and submitted an application for her entry to Southern Paradise," was the reply from one of the Judges.

"As King of _Feng Du_, I have approved her application," was the reply from _Yen Lo Wang_. "She will spend twenty years in Southern Paradise, before she is to go down to the Tenth Court of _Feng Du_ and perform the Rites of Rebirth with Lady _Meng Po_ and _Zhuang Lun Wang_ watching over her."

"Was there ever an Alex?" asked Danny curiously and was greeted by silence.

"Never," was the reply from one of the Judges. "The Alex you knew was and had always been Professor Zeross' granddaughter."

Danny then turned to face the Judge that had announced himself as that of the Tenth Court.  
"I know I've never spent that much time with Alex," he said calmly, as if talking to no one in particular. "I only spent two nights in that freaky dream school, but I guess… Alex was like a friend to me there. No, he… she was a friend. Everything was so strange and so different, yet Alex was there to help me get through."

He sighed, before he said, "Maybe it was O'Donnell's presence inside Alex that made her find me and help me out and befriend me, but I doubt it. In those dreams I had after escaping the hospital, I could tell she genuinely liked me, that it wasn't O'Donnell controlling her and tricking me into coming back to the hospital." He sighed. "I never really got to know her," stated Danny with a shake of his head. "Is it… Is it possible for me to see her one last time? You know, before she's reborn?"

"This is highly unusual," was the First Judge's reply, "but I do not see why not." He then clapped his hands twice.

Alexia appeared before Danny, wearing the same school uniform she had worn when a pupil at the real Streete Court High before it burned to the ground. It was nearly the same as the uniform she wore when she was in the ghost school, but of course, she wore a skirt now she was a girl. And her hair had not changed colour, but her eyes were no longer a dark brown but were of the same colour as Danny's human eyes.

"Thank you, Danny," said Alexia gratefully with a small bow of her head. "Thank you for everything you did."

"It was nothing," said Danny sheepishly, as a small blush spread across his cheeks.

"No, it wasn't," disagreed Alexia with a shake of her head. "You could have ignored the dream. You could have ignored me. I mean, what if I had been just a figment of your imagination? What if I had been a tool of the Blue Bow Army, an imaginary victim to trick you into a trap?" She looked Danny deep in his eyes. "You came to help me anyway, even if I was a tool of the Blue Bow Army, even if Dr. O'Donnell was using me to get to you."

"I couldn't take the chance," was Danny's reply to her statements. "You were in trouble and I had to save you. That's the kind of thing I do." He then shuffled nervously on his feet, not knowing what exactly to do.

A smile spread across Alexia's face.  
"Thank you," she said before she walked up to him and gave him the biggest and strongest hug he had ever received in his entire life, one that was only rivalled by Sam's last hug. "You've done so much for me and suffered so much for me. I'm so sorry for everything that happened to you." She then paused a while, as if in deep thought, as if a great idea had come into her mind.

"Come with me!" said Alexia with a happy, insistent expression on her face. "Come with me, Danny. We can leave the world behind us. We can have so much fun together and nobody will hurt you for what you are. In Southern Paradise, you'll be accepted. People will understand you. You won't be an outcast anymore."

Danny looked into Alexia's eyes and saw that was what she clearly believed. He understood that she must have suffered quite a lot at the hands of the Real World and would understand why she wanted to get away from it. Now that he thought about it, he had suffered quite a bit at the hands of the Real World. There was something he liked about the idea of leaving the world behind, to take a break from the troubles of the Earth and then to start afresh.

But what about his friends? What about his family? How would they cope without him? Would they miss him?

"I'm sorry," he apologised to Alexia, as he shook his head. "I can't go with you," he told her. "I've got friends and family. They'd miss me if I was gone."

Alexia nodded in acknowledgement.  
"I… I understand," she said quietly, as she turned her head away from Danny.

"A… Alexia, I'm real sorry," began Danny.

Alexia raised a hand in a silencing gesture.  
"No, don't be," she said to him with one shake of her head. "You've done more for me than anyone ever has. Thanks to you, I can be free to live my own life the way I want to live it. I know… I know I can never repay you for what you did, but I'll try my best to remember you and everything you've done. It won't matter how long I spend in Southern Paradise. It won't matter how many cups of Lady _Meng Po's_ Tea of Forgetfulness they give me. I will remember you and all you've done, even when I'm reborn."

Somehow she then managed to get close to him. Alexia flung her arms around Danny, holding him tight before giving him a light kiss on the lips. She pulled away with a smile and giggled upon seeing him go bright red.  
"Goodbye, Danny," she said to Danny. "I'll never forget you."

"Bye, Alexia."

* * *

It was encroaching on his very being, threaten to swallow his consciousness whole. It seemed like a terrible force that dwelt in the recesses of his mind, beckoning him towards it and making the world pale in its presence. Nothing seemed as if it could defeat it and stop him from slipping into its lightless embrace, as it seemed to drain the colour, the sound and the very life out of his surroundings.

Yes, and even as time passed, he grew weaker to this terrible force and the complex nature of his consciousness, of his being awake, began to slow and factor after factor kicked in, to shut his very system down. Whatever was left of his consciousness became dim electrical impulses of the neurons in his mind and his eyelids became heavy.

Fight it, you've got to fight it, he managed to think to himself.

"Mr. Fenton!" cried a voice and a great one-metre ruler slammed down on the table in front of him, jolting him back awake. "Mr. Fenton, would you please care to repeat what I just said?"

The black-haired youth blinked, as he looked up at the figure of his English teacher, Mr. Lancer.  
"Uh…" began Danny Fenton, only to trail off into awkward silence.

"I thought as much," said Mr. Lancer, as he scratched at his head. He turned to face the clock at the back of the classroom. "I'd like to see you in my office after class, Mr. Fenton."

Danny heard a laugh and turned round, to see the grinning face of Dash Baxter, the school bully and one of the football team's best players. That figured. Dash loved to see him in some trouble and if Danny wasn't in any, Dash always found some reason to torment him.

It was times like those that he just wished that he could disappear and slip away unnoticed from the rest of the class. It wasn't as if anybody in the class cared, with the possible exception of Tucker and Sam, his two best friends.

There were times when Danny just wanted to tell others about the reasons as to why he always seemed drained and tired in class. He wanted to tell them how it was him that had saved them from the enraged ghost of a cafeteria woman and how it was him that had saved them countless times from the ghosts that somehow managed to find their way into the world of the living. He wanted to tell them about how he had ended up with ghostly superpowers thanks to his parents' invention…

Yet what would be the point?

No one would believe him and even if they did and even if he did prove his powers in front of them, what then? Would he be celebrated as a hero? Would he be shunned as a freak?

"I change the key from C to D," sang Danny softly under his breath, so quietly that no one could hear save for him and the Gods themselves.

In this day and age, it seemed as if the latter were more likely and every day he lived with the fear of being found out for what he really was, some half-boy, half-ghost hybrid. He was already unpopular, amongst the bottom rung of the social ladder, and what he didn't need was another excuse for them to shun him. No, if he was to be even accepted, he had to keep his true capabilities a secret from the others. He could never truly be himself, or all that he could truly be, for he lived in a society where it doesn't matter who you are but whether you conform.

"You say to me, it's just a minor thing, yo. He knows everything."

Yet what was conformity?

Danny didn't want to be someone else. He didn't want to conform and change his identity, his ideals and his beliefs. He wanted to be himself. After all, he had pretty much been everything else. Under the Blue Bow's influence, he had been a boarding school pupil, a band leader and had a clone made of him, a clone that had become Head of the Blue Bow Army. He had been everything except for himself and now was that chance, now in that class, with his friends, in his hometown, he would have the chance of being true to himself.

"To readjust, you've got to trust in the fuss…"

The bell suddenly rang.

But Danny didn't hear it. He had found himself humming a song and his thoughts were all focused on that song.  
"It's just a minor thing, yo. He knows everything," Danny found himself singing quietly to himself, in a hushed voice that nobody but him could hear. "It's just a minor thing and I'm a minor king. He knows everything."

Sam was worried, as she sat there in the class and looked at Danny. This was exactly what had happened before Danny was first hospitalised and taken to the Roslyn Hospital. Sure, they had managed to completely destroy the Blue Bow Army, but she couldn't help but feel as if Danny was still at risk, at risk from Plasmius, at risk from those whom would seek to use Danny for their own purposes. She wanted to rise up and follow him, but a crowd of pupils had suddenly gotten in the way and before she could go after him, he had already disappeared.

The black-haired Goth turned round to face Tucker.  
"Come on!" she cried without an explanation and grabbed him by the arm, before dragging him along with her. "We've got go after them!" She didn't even stop for anyone, nearly pushing Paulina off her feet as she ran through the corridors with Tucker trying his best to keep up with her.

She suddenly crashed into someone.

"Whoa, Sam!" exclaimed Danny, as he placed a hand out on to the lockers to prevent himself from falling over. "Where's the fire?"

"Danny?"

There was a grin on Danny's lips, as he leaned against his own locker. Danny looked so confident standing there. He looked completely at peace with himself, not like the person that had been dragged off to Lancer's office.

"Danny, what happened?" asked Sam.

"Yeah, what happened, man?" asked Tucker curiously. "What did Lancer say to you?"

The smile on Danny's face widened.  
"Aw, you guys cared?" he said in reply to their questions. He laughed. "Don't worry, guys," he told them calmly, as he opened his locker. "It was just the usual thing, you know? Don't fall asleep in class again, that sort of thing." He picked out a few books, slipping them into his rucksack and then closed his locker. "So, you coming to watch me play tonight?" he asked them.

Sam felt some relief at what she was hearing. It seemed to her almost as if Danny had returned to his normal self, the self that she had known long before the accident at his parent's lab.  
"Yeah," she replied with a nod of her head. She'd like to hear Danny's band play for its first time and to hear the songs that he had written, songs that would allow her to see into his soul.

"Come on, let's get out of here," said Danny, as he slung his rucksack over his shoulders and he walked with his friends out of the school, all whilst humming one of his own songs.

**_The End._**


End file.
